Tripadvisor blocks record 2 million fake reviews in 2023

More travel means more online reviews. More reviews mean more fakes — and more work for the people, and technology, set up to catch them.

Tripadvisor said Tuesday it blocked a record 2 million misleading reviews from its site in 2023, while stopping 4 in 5 of those reviews from ever appearing on the site — another record for the company.

Removing fake reviews to preserve the integrity of those that remain has been a growing concern for both government regulators and the companies that rely on online customer reviews, including suppliers such as hotels and tour operators and online travel agencies that also display reviews, such as Expedia and Booking.com.

With more than a billion reviews and opinions from global travelers on its site, Tripadvisor lays claim to the title of the travel’s leading guidance platform — making its biennial transparency reports something of a barometer for the industry.

In the report it released last year, the…