The developers of Mozilla recently announced it acquired Fakespot, a startup whose browser extension can detect fake product reviews on shopping sites like Amazon. People rely on reviews to make shopping decisions online and loads of positive reviews on one product can sway decisions in its way. Many sellers use paid reviews to boost their product ratings and rankings and Consumer Choice reports companies are not doing enough to fight back against scammers. Integrating the technology in Firefox will go toward helping users to shop with the confidence of knowing fake reviews will be flagged.
Since the rise of ChatGPT usage, bad actors have started using it to flood the market with realistic fake reviews to better fool buyers. It's more challenging now for an average consumer to identify a manufactured review due to the (mostly) good wording of the AI chatbot. However, as Techradar points out in its report, AI bots also have a tendency to not hide the fact that an AI wrote them, with one literally writing: “As an AI language model, I don’t have a body” in the text of a review.
Mozilla plans to invest more in Fakespot and claims it will enhance the online shopping experience for millions of people. According to Mozilla, the extension will continue working on other platforms and browsers like Chrome on Windows, Android, iPadOS, and iOS. Addinjg that with its goal to put customers first, it will also develop features that will stay exclusive to Firefox browsers to identify authentic products with real reviews and ratings.
On the company's site, the founder of Fakespot, Shouid Khalifah writes,
“ We are joining a company that develops one of the most popular browsers in the world in Firefox with a lineage that dates back to the origins of the internet.”
Mozilla shared in a press release, that they are continuing their work around ethical AI and responsible advertising. Customers have higher satisfaction when using Fakespot according to their data. Fewer product returns also mean less environmental damage through reduced shipping and packaging.
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