Could a new Twitter campaign weed out fake reviews on TripAdvisor?

TripAdvisor quickly became one of the most useful websites, and subsequently the most useful apps, to have been developed in recent times. But it also has a dark side. Like any site that allows users to leave reviews, TripAdvisor suffers with the problem of fakes. A new Twitter campaign hopes to help cut down the number of fraudulent reviews.

Fake reviews are not a problem that is specific to TripAdvisor -- Amazon has gone as far as suing people it believes to be fabricating reviews -- but a group of people have joined forces to try to do something about it. Concerned that there are a huge number of reviews written by people who have not actually visited the establishment they are reviewing, the #noreceiptnoreview campaign proposes that people should only be permitted to share their reviews upon the production of receipt.

It's a campaign that has the backing of diners, writers, and restaurant critics, as well as those who run hotels and restaurants. It is a bid to stem the tide of maliciously negative reviews that may be posted by rival businesses or people with an axe to grind. Of course, it would not be a complete solution to the problem; there would be nothing to stop someone from eating at a restaurant to obtain a receipt, and then writing a deliberating scathing review.

But supporters say that it is a start. One of the backers is Jay Rayner -- food writer for the Observer -- who says:

TripAdvisor have admitted they have a problem with fake reviews, and if you have a business model that functions on trust, then you need to do something to protect that. At the moment I only use TripAdvisor to get a list of places in a particular town I'm going to -- I ignore the rankings.

There have been suggestions that TripAdvisor should introduce a user verification system similar to that used by Twitter and Facebook, but this would potentially mean that reviewer would feel less inclined to speak their mind. The idea of requiring a scanned receipt before posting a review is not a perfect solution -- and there are many ways to play the system -- but it could be a step in the right direction.

Speaking to the Guardian, a TripAdvisor spokesperson said the company was not keen on the idea -- but that's not necessarily the point. The point is that people are talking about the problem and trying to come up with a possible solution; that's something that should benefit everyone.

Photo credit: Bloomua / Shutterstock.com