- Apple on Friday removed the app Fakespot from its App Store at Amazon’s request.
- Amazon complained that Fakespot misled customers, violated App Store rules, and brought security risks.
- The CEO of Fakespot said he was shocked by the turn of events.
- View more stories on the homepage of Business Insider SA.
According to reports, Amazon asked Apple to remove an app called Fakespot from the App Store on Friday. edge with NBC Finance Channel.
Fakespot is an app that flags product reviews on shopping apps like Amazon when they might appear Forged or Robot generation.
According to the Verge report, Amazon filed a complaint with Apple on June 8, saying that Fakespot displayed Amazon’s website in its app, which violated Apple’s regulations. Relevant rules stipulate that applications that display third-party content must obtain permission from that third-party.
Amazon also stated that Fakespot misled customers and put the code on Amazon’s website to display its rating posed a security risk.
“The app in question provided customers with misleading information about our sellers and their products, harmed our seller’s business, and created potential security risks. We thank Apple for reviewing the app in accordance with its Appstore guidelines ,” an Amazon spokesperson told Verge.
In an interview with Verge, Saoud Khalifah, CEO of Fakespot, denied that the application had any security vulnerabilities. He added: “Amazon is willing to bully small companies like us that show corporate vulnerabilities.” He said that when Apple removed Fakespot, it had 150,000 downloads.
Saoud’s stated that since Amazon initiated the lawsuit on June 8, Apple has hardly given Fakespot a chance to fight back. He told CNBC that the delisting notice was sudden and unexpected. “Imagine you go to a tenant and say you must take all your things and you must leave right away. This is how I feel now,” he said.
Apple disputed this, saying it gave Fakespot “ample time” to resolve its problems with Amazon. Khalifah told Verge between June 8 and Friday that this process involved Fakespot and Amazon arguing with each other, and Apple did not provide any guidance. “I was shocked that Apple decided to support Amazon without any evidence,” he told Verge.
At the time of writing, Fakespot remains in the Google Play store on Android phones, with more than 50,000 downloads.
When Insider contacted Fakespot, Amazon and Apple for comment, they did not immediately respond.
Fake reviews has always been a big public relations issue for Amazon.Tech giants are Facing investigation in the UK Regarding false comments, and issued a statement in June stating Social media companies need to do more Stop selling fake reviews on their platform.
