Google reportedly scraps thousands of negative Robinhood reviews

Google removed over 120,000 of negative Robinhood reviews citing violations related to rating manipulation, the firm reportedly said.

Google has reportedly deleted thousands of negative reviews of Robinhood on the Google Play Store after the platform suspended trading of several skyrocketing stocks like GameStop, multiple sources claim.

Financial analyst Mr. Whale reported on Jan. 28 that Google removed as many as 120,000 negative reviews of Robinhood, pushing the app’s rating from one star to about four stars.

Google reportedly confirmed the massive removals to tech news publication The Verge, claiming that the decision was made due to violations of Google Play Store policies. 

The company reportedly said that Google’s policies explicitly prohibit reviews aiming to manipulate an app’s rating. Google said that they have a system that “combines human intelligence with machine learning to detect and enforce policy violations in ratings and reviews.” The companies themselves do not have the ability to delete reviews, the company added.

Google did not immediately respond to Cointelegraph’s request for comment.

At publishing time, Robinhood app has about 177,000 reviews on the Google Play Store, with a 4.2 star rating. 

On Jan. 28, Robinhood halted trading of several rallying stocks including GameStop and AMC Entertainment, spurring large-scale outrage in the trading community. As reported, GameStop share prices have been actively pumped by Reddit’s WallStreetBets movement going up against short-selling Wall Street traders like Melvin Capital.

Apart from suspending popular stocks, Robinhood also reportedly halted trading of Dogecoin (DOGE) on the same day. Following a meteoric pump that is also believed to have been orchestrated through Reddit, DOGE skyrocketed 900% less than in two days as of Jan. 29, returning to the top-10 cryptos list for the first time since 2015.

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