BERLIN, May 24 (Xinhua) -- The German Federal Cartel Office (Bundeskartellamt) announced on Thursday that it has launched an investigation into online customer reviews.
"Besides prices, customer reviews are the most important decision criterion for consumers in online shopping," said Andreas Mundt, president of the Bundeskartellamt, adding that many consumers would rely on other users' reviews on the Internet when choosing a doctor, a craftsman or a restaurant.
According to the Bundeskartellamt, investigations and media reports indicate that in many cases, customer reviews would "not be authentic," because they were computer-generated or customers received incentives for their reviews without mentioning it.
One of the Bundeskartellamt's current focuses is protecting competition in the digital industry, Mundt said.
In February, the Bundeskartellamt imposed far-reaching restrictions on the processing of user data by the social media company Facebook. The Bundeskartellamt prohibited Facebook from combining user data from different sources such as third-party websites into the profile of the social network's users in Germany.
Regarding the launch of investigations into online customer reviews, the Bundeskartellamt is carrying out a so-called sector inquiry, which would not be directed at individual companies and would not investigate any concrete suspicion of a cartel infringement, the Bundeskartellamt said.
In the upcoming months, the Bundeskartellamt is planning to gather information from several websites which contain customer reviews or provide relevant services. The result will be presented in a report by the cartel office after the investigations have been completed. Enditem
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