How Google Maps Defends Against Fake Content and Reviews
The internet is vast, and it is filled with creatures of every description. Some are helpful and leave informative reviews. Some are vile and leave vitriolic rants. Some are just out for a laugh, and leave what they consider jokes for products or places that they also consider jokes.
Then there’s the big wide school of normies. Those of us who just wanna find the best way to spend our dollar. And when there is an ocean of trash to sift through, that makes it all the harder.
That’s why Google (and Amazon and Yelp) have protocols and policies to keep the reviews proper and to the point. Here are three new tactics Google Maps is taking to protect the quality of their reviews.
Responding quickly to real-time abuse
This is as close to boots on the ground as Google is gonna get.
Let’s say a politician hosts a fundraiser somewhere, or some highly publicized incident takes place at a local venue. It isn’t long before the review bombers come in.
Whether their hearts are in the right place or not, leaving a review that doesn’t report on an experience at or with a business - and instead comments ON the business or their owner, the owner’s beliefs, etc. - all those are against Google’s policy.
So, similar to Yelp’s “Public Activity Alert”, they’re going to temporarily restrict reviews and remove those that violate policies.
Preventing abuse ahead of sensitive moments
Speaking of politics, those can get pretty hot. And when you have a service like Google Maps that so many use to get information on not only location, but also hours and contact information, it can be problematic that anyone with a Google Account can request to make an edit.
So now, Google limits “the ability for people to suggest edits to phone numbers, addresses and other factual information for places like voting sites to help avoid the spread of election-related misinformation.”
Instating longer-term protections
Finally, looking forward, Google is focusing on locations rife for review abuse, notably places where anyone who is there, DID NOT CHOOSE to be there, like police stations and prisons.
For example, if someone is looking to write a review for a prison on Google Maps, they may find a notification banner that says this functionality is turned off with a link to learn more about our policies. Even in cases where we impose restrictions, people can still see helpful information about these places, like its address, website and phone number.
I know I’ve looked at prison reviews for this silly podcast, and you can always tell it’s just a bunch of jokers, high schoolers stuck in a computer lab and whatnot, not real reviews. So this is good, if you ask us.
