In an effort to curb fraudulent reviews that have tanked consumer confidence in the products they buy online, Amazon has announced it is suing the administrators of over 10,000 Facebook groups.

Thousands of Amazon-related Facebook groups exist for the purpose of soliciting fake product reviews from real shoppers. Through these groups, shoppers are incentivized through gift cards, reimbursements, and sometimes even money in exchange for a fake review promoting a product. Some of these solicitors will even offer shoppers product incentives ranging from small electronics to household goods in exchange for a fake review. In some instances, the fraud is initiated the moment an amazon customer receives their order. It’s not uncommon for customers to find a flier directing customers to a Facebook group where they can receive incentives or gift cards if they share a positive review.

Amazon has had a long-standing history of battling these fake reviews. But this latest move to take legal action comes after mounting pressure from the government requiring Amazon and other businesses to even the playing field for consumers who are bombarded by thousands of products. If online retailers do not make an effort to tackle these fake reviews, the companies could suffer massive losses in fines from the government.

In 2019, lawmakers sent a letter to Jeff Bezos, who was the Chief Executive of Amazon at the time. The letter put pressure on the e-commerce giant questioning what was being done to stop the fake reviews. That same year, the Federal Trade Commission charged its first case of an online retailer that was paying for fake reviews from a third party in order to influence sales.

Amazon has worked diligently to combat the fraudulent reviews within its own e-commerce platform, but when it comes to monitoring and stopping this type of activity on Facebook and other social media platforms, efforts have proved to be difficult. Still, Facebook has shared that it is working alongside Amazon to combat false reviews.

“Groups that solicit or encourage fake reviews violate our policies and are removed,” shared a spokeswoman for Facebook’s parent company, Meta. “We are working with Amazon on this matter and will continue to partner across the industry to address spam and fake reviews.”

Amazon announced in a statement that the lawsuit includes one Facebook group which goes by the name “Amazon Product Reviews.” This Facebook group boasted over 40,000 members and was eventually taken down in early 2022.

Amazon shared that it will continue to “identify bad actors and remove fake reviews commissioned by these fraudsters that haven’t already been detected by Amazon’s advanced technology, expert investigators, and continuous monitoring.”

The rise in fake reviews has plagued the e-commerce landscape to an extent that the Federal Trade Commission has begun paying attention. In 2018, the Washington Post reported on an investigation that revealed fake reviews artificially inflated the price of a wide range of Amazon products. From health supplements to clothing, the presence and prevalence of fake reviews have caused hundreds of thousands of consumers to make misleading purchases.

In a blog post shared by Amazon last year, the e-commerce giant acknowledges that the rise in fake reviews has been steadily growing as bad actors continue to get more sophisticated in their organizational and execution processes. The blog post specifically highlights how these bad actors use social media platforms including Facebook to recruit shoppers into posting these fake reviews.

Now that the pressure has been put on companies to crack down on these reviews, consumers may see a change in how products are marketed or reviewed. Until then, experts urge consumers to pay attention to reviews and look for red flags including grammar errors and 5-star ratings with brief descriptions.