If our systems identify suspicious characteristics in the review, or it breaches our guidelines, it doesn’t appear on our platform. Everyone can share their experiences on Trustpilot whenever they choose. Businesses can engage meaningfully with feedback, but they can never pay to remove reviews.
In 2024, we introduced new measures to ensure more genuine reviews remain online by reducing the burden on consumers to provide evidence that their review is real. We made this change after receiving feedback that some businesses were abusing our reporting tools to suppress negative feedback. If the review is given the all clear it is posted to the platform. Consumers and businesses can report reviews that they believe may violate guidelines or which have been missed by our detection systems.
This is a clear case of fraudulent billing and digital exploitation.
Unfortunately, this also means our platform may be misused by bad actors who try to take advantage of our open nature. We strive to find the balance between this open approach and protecting our content. Businesses can invite reviews, or they can be organic when the consumer comes to Trustpilot unprompted.
People
Businesses can learn and improve by accessing our basic services for free, including the ability to read, respond, invite, and report reviews. Our guidelines ensure that everyone understands how to use the platform in a way that aligns with our Trust principles. When our guidelines are breached, we take action in line with our Action We Take policy. Our Content Integrity, Fraud & Investigations, and Legal Teams work collectively, as part of the Trust team, to safeguard the integrity of our platform.
- We are living through a period of rapid change, where artificial intelligence is transforming how people access, interpret, and act on information.
- Our approach spans a range of safeguarding techniques to protect Trustpilot, our technology, community, and people.
- We call this Trustpilot everywhere, ensuring people can rely on trusted information whenever and wherever they make decisions.
- This year, we’re building on our efforts to identify content that breaches our guidelines.
We believe everyone deserves a voice on Trustpilot, which is why consumers decide which businesses are reviewed. We take legal action against businesses that repeatedly post fake reviews or try to manipulate their TrustScore. We increasingly take action against websites that sell fake reviews. Since 2022, we have successfully taken action against 11 businesses who have breached our guidelines. Our Content Integrity and Fraud Investigation specialists work in tandem with our technology and community to protect the platform and enforce our guidelines. They identify new and emerging patterns of behaviour that bad actors use to manipulate our systems.
Teams Microsoft
- Verification can help ensure real people are writing the reviews you read on Trustpilot.
- The guidelines that govern the platform are applied fairly to both consumers and businesses, regardless of whether they are a paying customer or not.
- Our Content Integrity and Fraud Investigation specialists work in tandem with our technology and community to protect the platform and enforce our guidelines.
- Our approach gives businesses and consumers access to valuable insights they might not get elsewhere, but we recognise this comes with an important responsibility to safeguard the platform.
- We continuously invest in our platform’s privacy and security, and innovate to protect our users.
Alongside powerful technology, our Content Integrity specialists and Fraud and Investigations team take action on complex issues. Supporting our unwavering commitment to trust and safety is Trustpilot’s wider team of lawyers, technology experts, and communications and training specialists. We use a three-pronged approach powered by technology, community, and people. We provide the resources in our Trust Centre to explain how we’re bringing our vision to life. Find out which actions we’ve taken to protect you and promote trust on our platform.
Our top five sectors – measured in volume of reviews – all saw increases in 2024. Every review written on Trustpilot is connected to a user profile. In signing up, consumers agree to adhere to our terms and guidelines. Each reviewed business receives a TrustScore based on the number of reviews, how old they are, and a weighting system that includes seven reviews at 3.5 stars. This approach ensures that businesses with fewer reviews start with a balanced TrustScore.
Guidelines and policies
This is why reviews can be written at any time, about genuine experiences, and not just for purchases. Throughout 2024, we’ve consistently engaged with lawmakers and regulators around the world. We’ve played a pivotal role in the development of the Coalition for Trusted Reviews, a cross-industry body committed to safeguarding and promoting trustworthy reviews worldwide. In the US, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) published its new rule on The Use of Consumer Reviews and Testimonials.
We are committed to being relevant and useful to consumers and businesses. Verification can help ensure real people are writing the reviews you read on Trustpilot. We remain committed to placing trust at the centre of everything we do, for consumers, for businesses, and for society at large. Trustpilot is the world’s largest independent customer feedback platform, and trust has always been at the heart of what we do.
Safeguarding the platform
It aims to enhance trust in reviews, and prevents companies from using bogus consumer reviews to promote their products and services. We are an open platform, which means everyone can leave a review of any business, assuming it’s based on a genuine experience and it meets our guidelines. Our approach gives businesses and consumers access to valuable insights they might not get elsewhere, but we recognise xtb.com reviews this comes with an important responsibility to safeguard the platform. The benefit is that consumers have the freedom to share their experiences with businesses at any time, resulting in a broad and holistic range of feedback across any point in a consumer’s journey. Our mission is to build trust between businesses and consumers by making Trustpilot visible at every consumer touchpoint.
Great customer service.
We have guidelines for both reviewers and businesses, and we communicate this in the Action We Take, which maintains a balance between openness and fairness. The guidelines that govern the platform are applied fairly to both consumers and businesses, regardless of whether they are a paying customer or not. Trust is more important than ever before, and at Trustpilot, we believe reviews play a crucial role in bringing businesses and consumers closer together. Trustpilot is my goto place to check companies from genuine reviewers and I’ve lost track of how many times I’ve been saved from losing my money. Our vision is to become the universal symbol of trust — by empowering people to shop with confidence, and helping companies improve. We are a truly global business with reviews being submitted of businesses of all sizes from industries across the economy, in more than 100 countries.
Keep companies honest
As an open and independent platform, we play a crucial role in establishing trust between consumers and businesses. All submitted reviews are checked by automated fake review detection systems. We’re continuously working to help consumers make more informed choices and support businesses to build trust, grow, and improve what they offer. Labeled Verified, they’re about genuine experiences.Learn more about other kinds of reviews. I always read reviews…mostly from trust pilot…if the reviews are positive, hen I purchase. We use public Consumer Alerts when there hasn’t necessarily been misuse, but we think there is information users should be made aware of to support their decision-making.
Offering incentives for reviews or asking for them selectively can bias the TrustScore, which goes against our guidelines. Grateful to have this amazing source of sincere and articulate feedback (praise and fair warning). Trust Pilot has saved me from scams and helped to confirm good hunches. Companies on Trustpilot aren’t allowed to offer incentives or pay to hide reviews. Share your experience on Trustpilot, where reviews make a difference. Very easy to enroll Crystal helped me get to Bryan that really assured me of potential help for medication.
The number of detected fake reviews removed as a proportion of the total amount submitted in 2024 was 7.4%, and in 2023 it was 6.1%. The increase demonstrates that our automated detection systems are improving and becoming increasingly more effective as a greater number of reviews are submitted every year. Anyone in our community, whether a business or consumer, can flag a review at any time if they think it breaches our guidelines. Our automated technology screens flagged reviews to determine whether they should remain online, and our Content Integrity teams may get involved if a business or consumer challenges the decision. Other safeguarding measures include our whistleblowing function, which allows users to report suspicious behaviour that impacts our community. Additionally, we work with law enforcement and regulatory bodies to help tackle and overcome scams.
We have long used machine learning to moderate content, and in 2024, we began using generative AI to identify, at scale, policy violations. We believe AI can and must be used, in conjunction with humans, to enhance and improve trust, and we have been able to demonstrate that through more accurate decisions. Where we identify attempts to misuse the platform we take enforcement action. This includes placing prominent notifications on business profile pages to inform the community we are investigating or have taken action against a business, including legal action.
