Amazon targets social media influencers on Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok over product reviews

Amazon.com Inc. is asking online shoppers to provide information about product testimonials they’ve posted on TikTok, YouTube and Instagram, suggesting the e-commerce giant is more aggressively targeting paid reviews that merchants can use to gain a competitive edge.

In a questionnaire sent to a reviewer and seen by Bloomberg, a member of the company’s product review team wrote: “We are researching reviews and would like to talk to you about the interaction you had with the seller on this product.” Eleven questions followed, including one that asked: “Can you describe the work you’ve done for this seller as an influencer (eg posted videos on YouTube, TikTok, Instagram etc)?”

Amazon’s campaign coincides with a government clampdown on paid product reviews. In August, the Federal Trade Commission announced a new rule prohibiting businesses from paying for consumer reviews and giving the agency authority to seek civil penalties against violators.

Before announcing the rule, the FTC notified 700 companies, including Amazon, Facebook and Google, about its plans to curb a scourge that has become more prevalent in recent years. While paid reviews date back to the early days of e-commerce, millions of people have since become influencers who earn money to tout products but sometimes fail to disclose their brand affiliations.

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It’s unclear how Amazon determines who should receive questionnaires or what it intends to do with the responses. It’s also unclear how effective the campaign will be since reviewers can simply ignore the questions.

“We have robust and long-standing policies that prohibit review abuse, and we suspend, ban, and take legal action against those who violate these policies,” Amazon spokesperson Juliana Karber said. “We consistently monitor and enforce our policies so customers can shop in our store with confidence.” She declined to answer questions about the questionnaires.

Amazon has automated systems designed to detect paid reviews and other signs of unusual behavior, and employs fraud-detection investigators, Karber said. Such efforts prevented more than 250 million suspect reviews from appearing on Amazon in 2023, she said. The company has filed multiple lawsuits against paid review farms, only for new ones to emerge.

Representatives from TikTok and YouTube parent Alphabet Inc. declined to comment. Instagram parent Meta Platforms Inc. didn’t respond to requests for comment.

Paying for reviews is especially tempting during the competitive holiday shopping season, when online merchants often generate most of their sales and profit. A successful paid review campaign during the busy holiday period can boost sales of obscure products before the paid testimonials can be detected and eliminated.

Chris McCabe, a former Amazon investigator who runs a consulting business for online merchants, said he has never seen the company send a questionnaire to social-media influencers before. He recently heard from multiple Amazon merchants worried the company would suspend them after influencers they worked with received the questionnaire.

“Amazon sellers will all have to be very careful how they interact with TikTok influencers and social-media influencers in general,” McCabe said. “Amazon is starting to investigate the reviewer side of the problem and sellers are going to get suspended if they choose influencers poorly.”

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