- Facebook has seemingly confirmed that employees left five-star reviews for its new Portal video-chat device on Amazon.
- The reviews were first spotted by New York Times tech journalist Kevin Roose.
- Facebook executive Andrew "Boz" Bosworth tweeted saying that Facebook had not asked employees to leave good reviews, and that it will ask the employees to remove them.
Facebook employees have been caught leaving glowing reviews on Amazon for Facebook's new video-chat device.
Facebook released the Portal, a video-chat and smart-speaker device, in October. It was the first hardware product to be built and sold under the Facebook brand.
Transform talent with learning that worksCapability development is critical for businesses who want to push the envelope of innovation.Discover how business leaders are strategizing around building talent capabilities and empowering employee transformation.Know More The new gadget has already faced some hardship after Facebook admitted that the camera-equipped screen could collect data about its owners to help Facebook target ads at people.
Read more: The curious timing of Facebook's first hardware product, the $200 "Portal"
Now it seems Facebook employees have been trying to artificially inflate the device's ratings on Amazon.
New York Times tech columnist Kevin Roose was the first to spot that stellar reviews were being left by people with the same names as Facebook employees.
As Roose also pointed out, this would be in contravention of Amazon's terms and conditions for sellers.
Roose's suspicions were later confirmed by a Facebook executive. Andrew "Boz" Bosworth heads up Facebook's AR and VR divisions, and said that the employees had not been instructed to leave good reviews. "We will ask them to take them down," he added.
Business Insider contacted Facebook and Amazon for comment.
Next Story
I spent $2,000 for 7 nights in a 179-square-foot room on one of the world's largest cruise ships. Take a look inside my cabin.
Saudi Arabia wants China to help fund its struggling $500 billion Neom megaproject. Investors may not be too excited.
Colon cancer rates are rising in young people. If you have two symptoms you should get a colonoscopy, a GI oncologist says.
Markets extend gains for 5th session; Sensex revisits 74k
Top 10 tourist places to visit in Darjeeling in 2024
India's forex reserves sufficient to cover 11 months of projected imports
ITC plans to open more hotels overseas: CMD Sanjiv Puri
7 Indian dishes that are extremely rich in calcium
