Mozilla is testing a new built-in “Review Checker” feature for the Firefox browser, which evaluates how trustworthy a product's customer reviews are.
The experimental feature first spotted by MSPowerUser , Firefox senior director of product management Byron Jourdan confirmed that the company is testing the new feature “to a limited audience in the United States,” in a statement that given to The Verge.
Fake reviews are a big problem for online sellers, who must take increasingly aggressive measures to prevent malicioususers to use them to boost their own product ratings. Amazon has occasionally removed tens of thousands of reviews deemed fake, and has taken legal action against people who moderated fake reviews through Facebook groups. Two years ago, the UK's antitrust regulator launched an official research for the problem.
Firefox's Review Checker is gearing up to give users the tools they need to weed out fake reviews wherever they are found.
The snapshots screen published by MSPowerUser indicate that the tool will be accessible via an icon on line Browser URL, which will also display a sidebar detailing the currently open product page. The tool will give product reviews a score based on how trustworthy it thinks they are, offering a “customized rating” out of five stars.
