Now, Zomato will warn about restaurants with fake reviews
What's the story
In a bid to improve its restaurant discovery experience, food-tech giant Zomato is updating its app with some small but useful changes.
The company, which recently had to slash 13% of its workforce due to COVID-19, has announced a new 'dual rating system' as well as a way to warn users about eateries with fake reviews.
Here's all about it.
Change #1
Dual rating system for more clarity
As the experience of dining is completely different from that of delivery, Zomato is splitting unified ratings of restaurants into two - one for dining and the other for delivery.
The change has been made in accordance with the community feedback and will give people using Zomato more clarity over whether a place is good enough for ordering/dining or not.
Details
Ratings will appear contextually, says Zomato
The company says users will be able to see both delivery ratings in red and dining ratings in black after searching particularly for restaurants through its app.
But, in case you open a restaurant through the Order section of the app, you will only see the delivery rating.
Similarly, when you open through the Go Out section, only dining ratings will appear.
Change #2
Algorithmic changes to flag and remove fake reviews
Given that user reviews form a critical part of the restaurant discovery experience, Zomato has also made some changes to its machine-learning algorithm to prevent bad actors from flooding restaurant listings with fake positive reviews.
The food-tech leader says if its system flags a bad actor giving fake reviews, they will automatically nullify the effect of their action on the restaurant's reviews and ratings.
Details
Warnings on restaurants getting fake reviews repeatedly
Along with identifying and dealing with the action of fake reviewers, Zomato will also note which restaurants are getting fake reviews far too often.
This way, if it is determined that a restaurant has engaged in review solicitation multiple times in the past, their ratings will be negatively affected and a banner will appear on their listing warning the public about suspicious review activity.
Information
Changes have gone live in India
The new ratings and review system of Zomato has gone live in India and should start appearing on your Android/iOS app with an update in the next few days.