New oversight for shopping platforms: Ministry takes action against manipulation in e-commerce!

The Advertising Board of the Ministry of Trade has brought under oversight artificial interactions such as fake reviews, likes, followers, and star ratings used to increase the visibility of products and businesses in online shopping.

In the Board's assessment, manipulating data that influences consumer purchasing decisions to make businesses appear more visible on websites and platforms than they actually are was found to be in violation of regulations. The practices examined included the artificial inflation of interactions such as likes, questions, views, followers, reviews, and star ratings.

According to a report by Türkiye Gazetesi, the inspections also focused on paid services provided to have products added to favorites or shopping carts on platforms. Directing individuals who have not purchased goods or services from a business to leave reviews, and publishing these evaluations on platforms, was also deemed a misleading practice.

In accordance with the Regulation on Commercial Advertising and Unfair Commercial Practices, it is prohibited to obtain services from individuals or organizations to generate unrealistic evaluations or to use statements endorsing a product for the purpose of increasing sales.

The investigations covered not only the artificial inflation of positive interactions but also the blocking of the visibility of negative consumer reviews. It was determined that some services prevent the publication of negative comments about businesses or hinder them from being seen by consumers.

The Board decided to block access to numerous URLs containing listings found to be in violation of regulations. The listings subject to access blocks include 5-star and review services targeting search engines, as well as artificial interaction services such as follower, like, favorite, and add-to-cart bots on shopping platforms.

News Source: 12punto