Huawei Got People To Write Fake Reviews For An Unreleased Phone (theverge.com)

Posted by BeauHD on Tuesday February 13, 2018 @11:30AM from the not-for-sale dept.

As spotted by 9to5Google, Huawei has apparently posted fake reviews on Best Buy for its new Mate 10 Pro, which is available for pre-order in the U.S. despite not having any deals with U.S. carriers. "The fake reviews, which are exclusively on the Best Buy website, are likely the result of a contest Huawei ran on Facebook," reports The Verge. From the report: On January 31st, the company posted to a Facebook group with over 60,000 members, asking for people to leave comments on the Best Buy pre-sale page in exchange for a chance to beta test a Mate 10 Pro. The original post has been deleted, but 9to5Google obtained a screenshot before it went down. "Tell us how to why (sic) you WANT to own the Mate 10 Pro in the review section of our pre-sale Best Buy retail page," the post states. On the Best Buy site, there are currently 108 reviews for the phone, 103 of which were written on or after January 31st, the day Huawei posted the contest. Many of the comments directly reference not having any actual hands-on experience with the product itself, but give the phone a five star rating. "I can't wait to get my hands on this phone and demonstrate how amazing it is to people," reads one. "This device looks exciting and beautiful and it would be amazing to have a chance to beta test it," another reads. It seems Huawei is betting that loads of high ratings early on will make people trust the product and lead to higher sales. That's all well and good except that these types of reviews are strictly against Best Buy policy, as 9to5Google points out. "Huawei's first priority is always the consumer and we encourage our customers to share their experiences with our devices in their own voice and through authentic conversation," a Huawei representative told The Verge in a statement. "While there are reviews from beta testers with extensive knowledge of the product, they were in no way given monetary benefits for providing their honest opinions of the product. However, we are working to remove posts by beta testers where it isn't disclosed they participated in the review program."

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gaming by fluffernutter · 2018-02-13 11:36 · Score: 2, Insightful

This is why you can't really believe reviews anywhere. It is a system ripe for gaming.

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Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
1. Re:gaming by 110010001000 · 2018-02-13 11:36 · Score: 3, Insightful
  
  Very insightful. Please mod up!
2. Re:gaming by Ichijo · 2018-02-13 12:57 · Score: 3, Insightful
  
  Value is always a part of the rating.
  
  If value for money is part of the phone's rating, then the rating doesn't really tell you which is the better phone.
  Why does value for money need to be part of the rating when the price is usually listed right next to the rating?
  
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  Any sufficiently unpopular but cohesive argument is indistinguishable from trolling.