Tripadvisor's latest transparency report reveals an alarming rise in fake review attempts on its platform, with approximately 2.7 million fraudulent reviews detected in 2024 – representing about 8% of all submissions.
While this figure marks a significant increase from previous years, Becky Foley, Vice President and Head of Trust & Safety at Tripadvisor, clarified that the jump doesn't necessarily indicate a doubling of fake reviews. Rather, it reflects the company's enhanced detection capabilities and stricter policies, particularly against 'incentivized reviews' where businesses reward customers or employees for positive feedback.
The report categorizes fake submissions into four types: review boosting (54%), member fraud (39%), paid reviews (4.8%), and vandalism (2.1%). Review boosting, where business owners or employees post positive reviews to inflate ratings, remains the most common form of fraud. In 2024, Tripadvisor issued warnings to approximately 9,000 businesses for engaging in such practices.
Particularly noteworthy is Tripadvisor's response to the emerging threat of AI-generated content. The company removed more than 200,000 reviews suspected of being written by artificial intelligence in 2024. "We just don't want travelers to come to Tripadvisor for a sea of sameness," Foley explained, emphasizing the importance of authentic user experiences.
To combat these challenges, Tripadvisor employs a three-pronged approach combining automated detection, human review, and community feedback. The platform's content moderation system processed 87.8% of reviews through automation, with 7.3% rejected automatically and 4.9% flagged for further review. In total, Tripadvisor's trust and safety team moderated 13.5% of all reviews submitted in 2024.
The company has also joined forces with other major platforms including Amazon, Expedia, and Booking.com to establish the Coalition for Trusted Reviews, focusing on industry-wide standards and collaborative fraud detection efforts to enhance consumer protection across the digital travel ecosystem.