Trustpilot removed 4.5 million fake reviews in 2024, with AI removing 90%
Trustpilot, the world’s largest independent platform for customer feedback, has today launched its latest Trust Report (previously known as the Transparency Report), highlighting how AI, technology and data science have played a key role in safeguarding the integrity of the platform as it grows.
In 2024, Trustpilot introduced a number of new tools to protect the integrity of reviews on the platform, including guideline software that uses generative AI to identify policy violations at scale. Technology that looks for evidence that a review has been purchased was also introduced, as part of ongoing efforts to target review sellers.
Trustpilot removed 4.5 million fake reviews – amounting to 7.4% of the total number of reviews submitted in 2024. In 2023, it was 6.1% – demonstrating how its technology is scaling and improving as the number of reviews on the platform increases.
Crucially, 90% of those 4.5 million were removed automatically by technology that uses machine learning, neural networks and generative AI to identify patterns linked to fabricated content. Implementation of this technology, used in conjunction with Trustpilot’s specialist teams, led to 53% more reviews being removed automatically than in 2023 and demonstrates its importance in maintaining integrity as the platform grows.
The community of users continues to play a key role in maintaining the platform in parallel with the technology and specialist teams. In 2024, 92 thousand reviews were flagged by consumers and 601 thousand by businesses for breaching Trustpilot’s guidelines.
Online reviews have become an increasingly important part of consumer journeys and a tool for businesses to build trust, grow and improve their offering. Trustpilot is now home to over 300 million reviews – and 61 million were published in 2024 alone. More consumers and businesses are engaging with the platform than ever before, with 22 million consumers writing their first review for a business (up 13% from 2023) and 229 thousand companies being reviewed for the first time in 2024 (up 35% from 2023).
As the importance of review platforms grows, rightly so does regulatory scrutiny. Trustpilot is dedicated to maintaining dialogue with industry partners and regulators to reinforce its position as an authority in trust. In 2024, it became a founding member of the Coalition for Trusted Reviews, a cross-industry body that has helped promote best practices in the reviews industry and brought together experts and policymakers to discuss the industry’s future. Trustpilot has engaged with lawmakers to shape and define policy on reviews, including the FTC throughout the development of its Use of Consumer Reviews and Testimonials rule in the US, the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act in the UK, and the Fitness Check of EU consumer law on digital fitness in Europe.
Anoop Joshi, chief trust officer at Trustpilot said: “While we often hear about AI as a tool that can be used to mislead people, at Trustpilot we are using the technology to improve trust in the age of AI, by analysing content and identifying suspicious patterns that help us maintain the fundamental integrity of our platform as it grows. Trust has never been more important, and the online review industry faces real and complex challenges. But with increasing amounts of data at our disposal and the development of new technology to screen and moderate reviews, we believe trust can continue to thrive.”
To read the Trust Report, see here.