TIRANA, July 10 /ATA/ – Prime Minister Edi Rama said on Friday that Albanian authorities were working with Google to restore the online ratings of tourism businesses that he said had been targeted by a coordinated campaign of fake reviews.
In a post on social media, Rama alleged that around 10,000 accounts had been created to orchestrate attacks on the online reputations of hotels, guesthouses and restaurants by posting manipulated ratings.
He accused participants in the “flamingo protest” of carrying out the campaign, claiming it had artificially stripped businesses of positive customer ratings accumulated over time.
Rama said police were investigating the alleged scheme to identify those responsible, while cooperation with Google had enabled affected businesses to recover their ratings.
“Police are continuing to investigate the criminal scheme, while with Google’s assistance the affected businesses are having their deserved star ratings restored,” Rama said.
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