The Italian Competition Authority has fined TripAdvisor
500,000 euros (about $610,000), saying that the company is not doing enough
to prevent false reviews on its website.
The regulator said TripAdvisor should stop “publishing
misleading information about the sources of its reviews,” and gave it 90 days
to comply.
TripAdvisor said that it was reviewing the decision.
“However, from our initial review
of the document, we think the ruling is unreasonable, strongly disagree with
its findings and will file an appeal. We firmly believe that TripAdvisor is a
force for good, both for consumers and the hospitality industry,” TripAdvisor said in a statement.
TripAdvisor said it fights fraud
aggressively and said that Italy's zero-tolerance standard “means they would have
ruled against us even if just one review out of millions was found to be
questionable. They applied a 'standard' that is not a realistic standard for
any business model.”