Disha Tandon, Pune
In today’s times, the online review can either make or break a business, and hence, Google is implementing measures to deal with the growing issue of fake ratings and misleading reviews. It has just recently announced new regulations to target businesses manipulating their online reputation. The tech giant pushes to increase authenticity in user-generated content on its platforms.
As more and more consumers make decisions based on reviews-from where to eat to whom to hire-fake reviews result in bad choices that causes inconvenience and breaks their trust. Misleading ratings make it tough for actually good businesses to thrive, to the point that consumers get frustrated with Google reviews. Due to these issues the value of actual feedback has started getting attention. This new policy means that organizations violating its Fake Engagement policy will soon be strictly penalized.
New regulations penalize businesses that submit fake reviews or encourage false reviews. As a result, the new reviews will be stopped temporarily, and even the existing ones might be removed. Their business profile will also warn that fake reviews have been removed from the listing. Consumers as a result will make better choices because of honest reviews and transparency.
When alerted that a business has suspicious ratings, the reviews will be removed for that business and a precautionary note will be issued to the user cautioning that consumers should beware of businesses that promise something but do not deliver accordingly.
It has wide-ranging implications. For instance, a customer seeking to find a new restaurant will come across a profile with a removed reviews alert.
Furthermore, Google is establishing an appeals mechanism where businesses or entrepreneurs who believe they have unfairly been punished are allowed to present their case and appeal the judgment against them. That way, the enforcement of these rules won’t be too hard on them as well.
Efforts like these are important as the advancement of artificial intelligence makes it easier for businesses that may not be honest to generate fake reviews. Google’s latest policy updates cure this trend and attract people’s attention to how seriously the company is taking an initiative to preserve the integrity.
As the company rolls out these features worldwide, one would expect that users will see more clarity on the authenticity of business profiles. It is an endeavor to improve user experience and confidence in the services offered by Google.
The effort of Google in going about on the heels to end something termed as fake reviews online and making it more trustworthy is going to be beneficial.