Fake Review Glossary

Review fakery has become a sophisticated (and lucrative) business. Review fakers have developed a language of their own. Here are some of their more-commonly used terms.

Anonymous Review

Many review sites allow users to post anonymously, or as a guest. Review fakers hide behind this anonymity. Anonymous reviews are 3 times as likely to be fake.

Astroturfing

Creating the illusion of widespread support for a product or service. Astroturfing is commonly-used when a business is new, or to counter negative PR.

Bot Review

Fake reviews authored by software (commonly-known as bots). These reviews are frequently generic or incoherent.

Burner Account

An account created only to post fake reviews or comments. Also referred to as a 'sockpuppet'.

Fake Review

A review that is dishonest, written with the intention to deceive. 5 out of 6 fake reviews are positive. 1 in 6 is a fake negative.

Fake Review Detection

The process of identifying fake or fraudulent online reviews. Fake review detection typically involves the systematic, programmatic analysis of patterns in the language, sentiment, tone, length, frequency and timing of reviews.

Incentivized Review

A review written in return for compensation. Where the product has been refunded in return for a positive review, they are (in many jurisdictions) illegal.

Moderation

The process of monitoring and, if necessary, removing fake reviews to maintain the integrity of a review platform.

Negative Review Bombing

(also referred to Review Bombing or Neg Bombing) is the orchestrated manipulation of user-generated reviews or ratings. Typically used to harm a product or business's reputation. Fake negative reviews are typically left by rivals, disgruntled employees or activists.

Partial Dupe

An existing (possibly genuine) review that has been copied, pasted and then altered. Mildly reworking duplicates of existing reviews is quick and easy. This kind of review manipulation is hard to spot by eye but alarmingly commonplace.

Review Aggregator

A website or platform that compiles reviews from various sources to provide an overall rating or summary of a product or service.

Review Farm

A group or network of individuals that generate fake reviews for payment.

Stolen Reviews

A worryingly-regular occurrence. Review farms will routinely steal lengthy and well-written reviews from rival businesses.

Salting

Planting fake reviews, either positive or negative, among genuine reviews to make them less noticeable.

Shilling

Writing positive fake reviews to artificially boost the reputation or ratings of a product or business.

Trolling

Writing inflammatory or offensive fake reviews with the intention of inciting reactions or controversy.

Transparency Requirement

A seldom-followed policy that mandates reviewers to disclose any incentives, affiliations, or relationships that may bias their reviews.

TruthEngine^®

The world’s first fully independent cross-platform fake review detection system. The TruthEngine^® can detect fake reviews on every major platform including Amazon, Google, TripAdvisor, TrustPilot & more.

TruthMark^®

Businesses whose reviews pass the TruthEngine^®’s realtime authenticity testing get to display the TruthMark^®.

Verification

The process used by certain review platforms to validate the authenticity of reviews and attempt to eliminate the fakes.