Opinion: Fake reviews should stay online, researchers say. I’m not so sure

Li’s study estimates that as many as 30% of online reviews are bogus, intended either to inflate the standing of a company or product, or to damage the reputation of a competitor. — Mohamed Hassan/Pixabay

Perhaps it was inevitable that in this strange era of “alternative facts” and fake claims of “fake news”, someone would make the case for why bogus online reviews are a good thing.

Still, that anyone would make such an argument is jarring, especially when it comes from scholars writing in an academic journal.