Fake ratings

Italy as a role model: ÖVP wants mandatory clear names

Fake reviews and anonymized posts are increasingly posing challenges for the restaurant and hotel industry. In Italy, a new regulation for online reviews has been announced. If the ÖVP has its way, things will also change in this country.

"Increased online fake reviews are damaging platforms, consumer protection and businesses", say the State Secretaries for Tourism and Digital Affairs, Susanne Kraus-Winkler and Florian Tursky (both ÖVP). It is about a clear name obligation.

"The current discussions in Italy and Austria confirm that review platforms are increasingly being misused to spread deliberately untrue claims anonymously," the government politician said in a press release on Monday.

Of bought likes and fake customers
"Common examples include targeted negative reviews of competing businesses, purchased likes or misleading testimonials from fake customers." Kraus-Winkler believes that such "undesirable developments" could be counteracted with a clear name requirement.

Tursky points out that many potential guests trust the reviews on platforms. Trust should not be destroyed by fake reviews and honest businesses damaged at the same time. "The internet is not a legal vacuum and what applies offline must also apply online," says Tursky.

Artificial intelligence as an opportunity and a threat
In principle, online review platforms are particularly important for tourism as they increase awareness of businesses and strengthen quality competition. This also applies to harsh reviews, as long as they are "honest and constructive", says Kraus-Winkler.

The clear name requirement is therefore "neither a ban on opinions nor a ban on nicknames". It is important that authorities can intervene quickly in the event of unlawful statements such as threats against employees and that deliberately untrue claims such as distortions of competition by bots are made more difficult. Thanks to the possibilities of text generation through artificial intelligence, it is now easy to submit mass fake reviews online.

How do you recognize fakes?
Indications of fake reviews are, for example, when a competitor's product is advertised or when there is an unusual accumulation of reviews within a very short period of time, whether positive or negative. They can also be fake reviews if a restaurant has only recently opened, for example, but has already been reviewed countless times.