Google Deletes 100,000 Negative Reviews of Robinhood App From Angry Users
https://gizmodo.com/google-deletes-100-000-negative-reviews-of-robinhood-ap-18461566991/29/2021
Google removed at least 100,000 negative reviews of the stock trading app Robinhood from the Google Play app store after angry users sent a flood of critical reviews that caused the app’s rating to plummet on Thursday. The app’s rating went from roughly four stars out of five on Wednesday to just one star on Thursday. Robinhood users were understandably upset after the company halted purchases of GameStop’s stock and other stocks promoted by Reddit’s WallStreetBets community.
A Google spokesperson confirmed the tech giant has deleted the reviews and defended the move overnight, telling Gizmodo over email that it has rules against “coordinated or inorganic reviews.†Gizmodo asked how negative reviews could be deemed “inorganic†when people seem reasonably upset about Robinhood’s actions in recent days. Google stopped responding to Gizmodo’s emails after that inquiry.
Robinhood’s rating on the Google Play app store has rebounded to over four stars since Google deleted the negative reviews. The app also has a 4.7 rating on Apple’s app store, though it’s not clear what kind of moderation Apple has done of its reviews for Robinhood this week....
