Founder and CEO of Zerodha Nithin Kamath has raised concerns about the authenticity of app reviews on Google Play Store and Apple App Store in India. He has some concerns that many 5-star reviews, for example, are induced-faking and hinted that it is increasing practice to make the ratings of apps artificially so that the visibility and ranks increase.
In a post on X (formerly Twitter), Kamath shared his observations, stating, “I wonder how many @GoogleIndia Play Store and @Apple App Store reviews are genuine. I was going through Zerodha’s reviews and compared them with those of other financial services apps in India. Most of the 5-star reviews seem fake—many even read like AI-generated content.” He speculates that many of these apps buy or are even forced to buy positive reviews to rank better in their respective categories. “So there’s probably an entire parallel economy selling app ratings,” he added.
App stores are the most critical sites for users to ‘attack’ apps by downloading them and of leaving comments. They also allow users to rate the apps from 1 to 5 stars and offer their comments on the apps. This feedback is vital in determining best visibility as well as the credibility of apps.
One of the major implications concerns fake reviews – often, a multitude of 5-star ratings – that escalate an app’s status and edge over others in the search line-up.
Typically, these reviews would be created by bots, hired reviewers, or even AI-generated content designed to look authentic. Just as Kamath said, they may be so difficult to identify but often, an indication that they are not from real users would be from patterns like overly generic or repeated comments or the use of vague language.