Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN) has reportedly sued more than 10,000 Meta Platforms Inc (NASDAQ:FB) owned Facebook group administrators for allegedly brokering fake reviews.
According to the lawsuit filed in King County Superior Court in Seattle, group admins allegedly solicited reviews for items in exchange for money or free products.
It was alleged that 'Amazon Product Review' with over 43,000 members paid buyers if they falsely reviewed products such as car stereos and tripods for Amazon, with the complaint noting that another group called 'Amazon Varified Buyer & Seller' had over 2,500 members.
Based on screenshots of Facebook messages included in the complaint, administrators allegedly offered Amazon sellers fake reviews for US$10 per review.
Amazon said Facebook parent company Meta has taken down half of the more than 10,000 groups it reported, and is investigating others, as it attempts to root out fake reviews on its sprawling third-party marketplace.
In the past year, the marketplace generated more than half of Amazon's e-commerce sales.
The lawsuit was filed by Amazon in order to learn their identities, shut down the groups and compel them to return their "ill-gotten gains from brokering fake reviews."
Fake review purveyors are scouted by Amazon's internal teams as the social media giant works with the teams to close the groups.
Amazon has previously said it uses machine-learning tools and human moderators to stop fake reviews.