Apple took the Fakespot review app off its App Store on Friday, after it received a complaint from Amazon that said Fakespot inaccurately detects bad …
Apple took the Fakespot review app off its App Store on Friday, after it received a complaint from Amazon that said Fakespot inaccurately detects bad sellers and fake write-ups on its store. The move capped a month of back-and-forth between Apple, Amazon and Fakespot over the app, Fakespot CEO Saoud Khalifah said in an interview. Amazon said in a statement Friday that Fakespot « provides customers with misleading information about our sellers and their products, harms our sellers’ businesses » when it grades products and sellers on a scale separate from Amazon’s own reviews system. Amazon also said it was not able to verify what Fakespot « is or is not doing, today or in the future, which is why this is a security risk. » Khalifah accused Amazon of attempting to cover up fraud occurring on its platform, which he said his app is designed to highlight. « It’s a consumer right to know when you’re reading a fake review, if you’re getting a counterfeit, if you’re getting a product that is fraudulent that is going to harm you, » he said. « This system is broken. » Fakespot’s iPhone app has been installed about 150,000 times since it was released a couple of years ago.
