News
Reporting on fraud, review manipulation, misleading information and the work of protecting consumers and honest businesses.
158 articles in online-defamation-news
Credits: Business 2 Community By: Andrea Eldridge Online reviews can be a great tool to help find a hotel for your next trip, a reputable handy man or the best coffeemaker around. On our last trip to San Francisco, we ate our way from one delicious restaurant to the next, all with the assistance of […]
Credits: BU Today By: Susan Seligson If you’re combing Yelp reviews to decide where to eat, you’re likely to be misled or even duped, according to Georgios Zervas, coauthor of a recent study concluding that at least 16 percent of the reviews are fake. The researchers found that the worst offenders are restaurants seeki
Credits: Business 2 Community By: Richard Larson In case you haven’t heard, it is the age of customer service. The customer does not have to be right but the customer is king in our new online economy. From the business perspective, customer service can be even more difficult because customers do not see the employees
Credits: Hospitality Magazine By: Danielle Bowling ‘The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) is cracking down on fake online reviews, setting up best practice guidelines in consultation with industry and consumer groups. Fake reviews posted by competitors or disgruntled diners on websites includi
Credits: Herald Sun By: ANTHONY GOUGH ‘FED-UP restaurant owners are fighting back against anonymous online reviewers, saying unfair negative ratings are dragging their names through the mud and driving away their business. With the growth of websites such as Urbanspoon and Eatability, restaurateurs have reported
Credits: The West Australian By: Rob Broadfield ‘Veteran chef, restaurateur and industry leader Russell Blaikie has urged hospitality businesses to "push back the tide of bile and madness" from internet-based restaurant ratings sites such as Urbanspoon and TripAdvisor. Blaikie, co-owner of multiple award-winning
Credits: Small Business Trends By: Anita Campbell ‘Yelp filed suit against a business (a law firm no less!) over what it claims are fake reviews the business created for itself. While there have been stories before of companies “outed” for being behind fake review efforts, and even FTC complaints, Yelp filing a l
Credits: Cincinnati.com By: Jeffrey Layne Blevins ‘Truth and responsibility may matter again in online defamation cases after a recent U.S. District Court decision in Eastern Kentucky. For too long the anonymity afforded to third-party posters and the broad immunity provided to online operators has fed an untruth
Credits: The Times By: Simon de Bruxelles ‘A “floating restaurant” that worked its way up the TripAdvisor ranking has been exposed as a fraud intended to embarrass the online ratings site.’ Above excerpts and read the full article on www.thetimes.co.uk
Credits: BBC News ‘The UK must do more to stop online fraud and deter state-sponsored cyber-espionage or risk losing the fight against e-crime, MPs have warned. The Home Affairs Select Committee said much low-level internet-based financial crime was falling into a "black hole" and was not reported to the police.
Credits: The Telegraph By: Daniel Johnson ‘A businessman set up a fake restaurant with glowing reviews in a bid to expose the apparent failings of the TripAdvisor website, prompting baffled customers to be led down a backstreet alleyway.’ ‘Oscar’s was billed as having “amazing” and “mind blowing” Michelin-s
Credits: NCB News By: Rosa Golijan ‘Sometimes people post negative online reviews for products they never even used, not because they really hate a company, want to make a competing product look better or because they’re just bored — but instead, a study suggests, these folks are actually customers who are a litt
