Fake user reviews on shopping portal

The agency, which officially specializes in optimizing product descriptions, delivered around 1000 texts between 80 and 180 words long. Dozens of authors wrote paid texts for the portal about a washing machine ("I wouldn't have thought that so much had changed"), about a Canon camera ("Canon has taken a big step forward here"), about an ice cream maker ("It was child's play") and other products. In a briefing, the copywriters were precisely instructed to create realistic product reviews that were as authentic as possible, as reported by Der Spiegel. Negative ratings were also allowed so that everything appeared genuine. Telekom explained that "an overzealous service provider" had commissioned the text agency to create user reviews. The company was not aware of the order and the texts have since been deleted.