Google's deleted millions of fake reviews from the Play Store !

Google's deleted millions of fake reviews from the Play Store !

Fake Google reviews are a growing problem for business owners and marketers alike, and the recent attack of fake reviews on Google proves just how problematic this trend is becomine specially since local search results depend heavily on the number and aggregated rating of a company’s reviews.

While the affliction of fake reviews doesn’t just affect smartphone and tablet apps, the rather fickle market in which they exist is much more susceptible to their sway due to an app’s reliance on exposure from various charts and leaderboards that are, in turn, impacted by these reviews and ratings.

While Apple has had its own share of problems with fake reviews on the App Store (despite the iOS marketplace being relatively locked down), Google's slightly more lenient approach to apps on the Play Store has arguably led to more abuse of the Android platform – however the tech giant has recently revealed some milestones around its efforts to clean it up.

one of the downsides to using AI exclusively is that sometimes, legitimate applications are flagged. Earlier this year, the company deleted a significant amount of reviews off of Game Dev Tycoon despite there being no evidence of manipulation. One might argue that collateral damage is inevitable, considering the scale of the operation, but we need a better system in place.

Solving the issue :
By implementing a system that uses machine learning alongside a team of “skilled reviewers” and analysts, Google has removed millions of bad reviews and ratings and taken down “thousands of bad apps identified due to suspicious reviews and rating activities” in a single week.

Google classes a review or rating as ‘bad’ when it either contains “profane, hateful or off-topic” subject matter, is blatantly used to manipulate the overall average rating – either positively or negatively – or if the rating has been given in exchange for money.

The latter type of reviews are known as 'incentivized ratings' and often includes apps or games that offer free in-app items in exchange for a positive review – something which is prohibited by Google’s official policy.

As much work as Google is doing to fix the issue, it’s also asking users to help out by marking reviews or ratings as 'spam' from within the Play Store, and to also refrain from rewarding dodgy developers via those aforementioned incentivized ratings.

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