Fake reviews
A closer look at how fake and fabricated reviews damage trust across the entire ecosystem.
⚠️ A widespread problem
Fake reviews appear across every major platform. They shape opinions without reflecting real experiences and make it harder for users to rely on what they read.
Common sources include,
Purchased reviews
Review farms posting at scale
Coordinated negative campaigns
Incentivised posts hidden from users
These distort reality and undermine credibility.
Fraud has become a business model. Reviews influence billions in spending and bad actors have taken notice.
🤖 AI amplifies the issue
Modern AI tools generate long or short reviews that feel human. This makes synthetic content blend seamlessly into real feeds and significantly increases the difficulty of detecting manipulation.
📉 The trust crisis in numbers:
67% of consumers are concerned about review fraud (AgilityPR, 2021)
85% say they’ve read reviews that felt “sometimes or often fake” (Sift, 2019)
Google removed 55 million fake reviews in 2020
TripAdvisor, Yelp, and Facebook also report large-scale review fraud
Fake reviews often result from:
Astroturfing : fake reviews written to boost or attack a business
Review bombing : mass negative campaigns to punish venues
Paid reviews : ratings in exchange for perks or money
The economic damage is enormous: Fake reviews distort over $152 billion in online spending each year (World Economic Forum)
It’s not just misleading, it’s an invisible tax on trust.
🔒 How WeRate Fights Fake Reviews
WeRate introduces a multi-layered approach to authenticity:
✅ Proof-of-Location Reviews must originate near the venue, with GPS verification
✅ Biometrics & device validation Confirm reviewer identity in a privacy-conscious way
✅ AI-powered ticket scanning (soon) Validate check-ins via receipts or event proof
✅ Immutable storage (soon) Reviews are hashed and stored on-chain
✅ Incentive alignment Users earn for authenticity — not for volume, hype, or manipulation
Fake reviews thrive when there's no cost. WeRate adds friction, consequences, and rewards for truth.
Last updated