Amazon deletes about half of brokered reviews, one study found, but with an average lag of 100 days so sellers still benefit from the positive effects before they are removed.Jenny Kane/The Associated Press

Emily Osborne is a public policy researcher.

On Facebook META-Q, there’s a black market for fake Amazon AMZN-T reviews operating in plain sight. It supports a practice called review brokerage, in which Amazon sellers trade free products for fake five-star reviews through Facebook groups.

Review brokerage is harmful for consumers, honest sellers and platforms alike – everyone but the actors engaging in it. Competition regulators around the world are attempting to address these harms, with mixed success. And in Canada, the Competition Bureau’s ongoing investigation of the practice presents an important opportunity to take a strong stand against fake reviews and protect Canadian consumers.

The market’s existence is unsurprising given the power of reviews – particularly positive reviews – to influence consumer purchasing decisions. Indeed, Amazon sellers who purchased fake reviews saw

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