Google Maps Is Making It Easier to Spot Businesses With Fake Reviews

Google Maps has released a new set of rules that punish businesses for creating and posting false positive reviews of themselves or offering incentives to others to give the business rave reviews. Not only will the fake reviews disappear, but businesses will face penalties for using them to begin with.

"Reviews and ratings can help consumers choose a business for their needs," the company said in a post. "That's why we take fake and/or incentivized reviews and ratings on businesses very seriously."

Google outlines the various rules and penalties on its support website. Among the penalties is a sanction where the business won't be able to receive new reviews or ratings. In addition, all existing ratings will be unpublished, leaving the business review section ...