Loveinamist, did they say how exactly they are going to clamp down? I probably missed this bit as I didn't catch it all. Bet it will be a damp squib and they'll carry on just as before. I'd love it if some "names were named" of the guilty parties..
I heard Radio4 interview but here's the Guardian article in full, cut and pasted this bit though:
http://www.theguardian.com/money/2013/jan/26/fake-reviews-plague-consumer-websites
Amazon has begun to crack down on thousands of fake book reviews that have popped up on the site in recent years. Yelp, a popular US site that combines local reviews (30m so far) and social networking to create a local online community, said in November that it would be fighting fake reviews by naming and shaming companies and individuals found to be doing it. If Yelp finds evidence of attempts to pay for positive reviews, it puts up a 90-day consumer alert against the company.
But despite these crackdowns, the number of fake reviews is likely to continue growing, forecasts research firm Gartner. In a report last September it warned that one in seven posted online by the end of next year is likely to be false. Other estimates put the number as high as one in three.
But Gartner also warned that rather than paying for fake reviews, companies would switch to menacing individuals who have put up honest, but negative, reviews, demanding that they, or the site, remove them, or face legal action.
How to spot a fake
• Look for concrete details. Avoid reviews that provide abstract narratives about a product or customer-service experience. Give more trust to reviews that provide in‑depth descriptions of the quality of the product or service.
• Avoid one-review accounts. Click on a user's profile on review websites to get an indication of which other reviews the user has written.
• Beware reviews in poor English. Genuine customers may take little care with spelling and grammar, but some reviews sound as if they were translated from a foreign language. Give more credence to reviews written in well constructed and grammatically precise English.
• Skip over reviews overflowing with verbs, adverbs, hyperbole and praise that contains no caveats.
• Consider whether the reviewer's purchase has been confirmed. Amazon and Trustpilot have ways to confirm whether a customer who left a review for a product has indeed purchased it, but this system can be abused.
• Seek company and product recommendations from reputable publications. Look to Which? and MoneySavingExpert.com rather than consumer review websites.
• Conduct in-depth research. Reviews left by users on consumer forums, where they've engaged with the community on a regular basis can provide sharper insights than reviews posted online, so look beyond page one of Google's search results to get a better idea of a company's reputation.