Tripadvisor fined over fake reviews claims

Rome - Italy's antitrust watchdog on Monday slapped a €500 000 fine on US online travel review website TripAdvisor, accusing it of spreading misleading information to consumers.

The Italian Competition Authority (AGCM) accused TripAdvisor of failing to check for the authenticity of reviews published on its website, whilst running "particularly assertive" ads suggesting that all of them were reliable.

One of the offending commercials flagged up by the authority was: "It does not matter if you prefer chain hotels or niche resorts: on TripAdvisor you can find many reviews, true and authentic, which you can trust."

TripAdvisor was given 90 days to stop the ads and 30 days to pay the fine.