Twitter campaign emerges against TripAdvisor following Amazon fake review action
A #noreceiptnoreview campaign has emerged on Twitter and swiftly received backing from restaurateurs and critics in response to the news that Amazon would sue 1,000 fake reviewers.
The campaign aims to persuade review-led sites like TripAdvisor to allow people to only post a review if they can provide a scanned receipt.
The credibility of such websites, which host millions of reviews on restaurants and hotels, is under threat if consumer trust in the authenticity of reviews comes into question.
Amazon claims that its brand reputation was being tarnished by "false, misleading and inauthentic" postings from people offering false review writing services from around $5 (£3.25) on the website Fiverr.com.
The #noreceiptnoreview campaign to leverage a response from TripAdvisor on fake reviews has gained the backing from Observer restaurant critic Jay Rayner who said he currently ‘ignores the rankings’ on TripAdvisor because of the well-known problem of fake reviews. He said the inclusion of a receipt with a review would help restore trust in such websites.
“If you have a business model that functions on trust, then you need to do something to protect that,” he said
However, it’s unlikely to be considers by TripAdvisor. A spokesperson told The Guardian: “We believe that every experience counts, not just that of the person who paid the bill. If four friends go out to dinner there will be four different opinions, but only the one person with the receipt would be able to leave a review.”