The fake review industry is growing, plus more digital consumer news
Connected consumers round up #7
The fake review industry is growing: people have been making money from fake goods for centuries, but for consumers in the digital economy face an additional face the additional challenge of spotting bogus reviews. After exposing fabricated reviews on Amazon, a new investigation from UK consumer group Which? has found some businesses are buying their way to better rankings on Google reviews. If you’re a digitally savvy shopper, you might assume these are easy to spot, but behavioural testing found such reviews consistently fool consumers and influence purchases. Reviews began as an integral part of the success of platform marketplaces. It was once a refreshing change to hear the authentic voices of real buyers instead of the usual marketing speak. But when the trust in other people’s opinions breaks down, it harms consumers who might buy more costly or lower quality products, and businesses who are acting honourably. The Competition and Markets Authority is adding this to the growing list of things platforms have to get on top of as watchdogs sharpen their regulatory pencils. But until then it’s down to consumers to do the work, this article has tips on spotting fakes and a quiz to test your skills: How to spot a fake review.
Successful YouTubers are leaving the platform and creating new independent sites: Some highly successful streamers are confident they have the audience to be able to support a move to their own sites, extracting themselves from the “benevelont overlord” that is YouTube. The reasons they give are varied: some cite wanting independence from YouTube's algorithms which can mean viewers’ recommendations suddenly change and audiences drop, others want to escape the sometimes toxic comments and trolling in the larger platforms. These are paid subscriptions, taking a bet that enough users of content sharing sites are willing to pay to avoid algorithms and trolling too.
Large tech companies have got so powerful, they are actually now more akin to sovereign states: we heard last month that tech companies in Nevada will be allowed to create local governments. This piece from tech founder Nichola Oliver looks at how the size, reach and indispensability of large global tech companies puts them more on a par with sovereign states than companies. The financial resources of companies like Google, Apple, Facebook and Amazon (or GAFA) have meant that they can do state-level activities like providing free communications infrastructure or build delivery and fulfilment systems from scratch. He argues that covid-19 and lockdowns has now taken us to a point where they were given “seats at the high table of each country to help plan a response”. Could digital residency be next, and if so which of the GAFA’s virtual citizenships would you choose?
Short takes:
In Russia, you will soon be able to verify payment for groceries with a scan of your face: https://www.finextra.com/newsarticle/37642/russian-supermarket-chain-rolls-out-pay-with-face-technology/payments
Striking graphic from investigative advocacy group The Markup which shows side by side the different Facebook feeds that Republican and Democrat supporters see: https://themarkup.org/citizen-browser/2021/03/11/split-screen?feed=biden_trump
A new internet-connected shelf has launched with a scale that can tell when supplies get low, and automatically order replacements: https://www.wired.com/review/amazon-dash-smart-shelf
The Brave web browser sets out plans to pay users for viewing ads on its new search engine: https://www.cnet.com/news/brave-takes-on-google-with-privacy-focused-search-engine
New research from the Alliance for Affordable Internet and ITU shows that internet connectivity costs are falling but are still too expensive for many across the world: https://a4ai.org/research/affordability-of-ict-services-2020/
Thanks for reading!