Google GMB's Old Facebook Page Pwnd by Fake Reviews Vendor
Google allowed a fake reviews company to snatch its old Facebook URL.
When Google changed its local brand from "Google My Business" to "Google Business Profile" in November of 2021, its Facebook URL changed from facebook.com/GoogleMyBusiness to facebook.com/GoogleBusinessProfile.
Joy Hawkins pointed out on Twitter, we live in a world of unintended consequences:
When Google My Business rebranded, they changed the URL for their Facebook support page to match the new name. Take a look at who snatched the old one. Do you know how many links online point to this URL? 🤦♀️https://t.co/PmhBl2Pkym #fail
— Joy Hawkins (@JoyanneHawkins) January 28, 2022
h/t @CarrieHill
The bad news: the page was quickly taken over by a business that sells Google reviews. The good news, they are only $4.
The moral of this tale is that both Google and Facebook failed the public vis-a-vis the world of consumer reviews. Google failed to prevent fake reviews from continuing to have value and Facebook failed to police its network for obvious scams.
Truly a grim metaphor for the state of reviews and moderation.