Facebook updates its policy to take down fake reviews

Facebook has decided to crack down on user reviews to prevent people from leaving fake feedback on business pages.

FILE PHOTO: People are silhouetted as they pose with laptops in front of a screen projected with a Facebook logo, in this picture illustration taken in Zenica October 29, 2014. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/File Photo (REUTERS)

Facebook has decided to crack down on user reviews to prevent people from leaving fake feedback on business pages.

According to The Verge, the company has updated its Community Feedback policy to address this widespread issue. While actions were already being taken against potentially abusive reviews, the new policy puts these rules into writing.

Facebook's new guidelines protect against people who leave fake bad reviews as a way to get refunds or other freebies out of a business that wants to please its customers, and they're also supposed to tackle incentivized reviews.

These addresses the overly positive (and usually very vague) reviews businesses pay random users to leave on their pages. Other reviews subject to takedown include ones that have nothing to do with the business it's supposed to be addressing, contain graphic or inappropriate content, or are just plain spammy.

As per The Verge, if a customer or business violates any of these rules, Facebook has stated that it will remove the sketchy review in question, bar businesses access to product tags and listings, as well as suspend or ban "access to any or all Meta products or features." Repeat offenders could have their Facebook accounts suspended or banned.