UK government watchdog probing Amazon, Google over alleged fake review problems

A major United Kingdom government watchdog group is probing text giants Amazon and Google over reports that the two companies have failed to police fake reviews on their respective servers.

The Competition and Markets Authority said on its website on Friday that it had "opened formal enforcement cases against Amazon and Google in relation to possible breaches of consumer protection law." 

"The CMA has concerns that Amazon and Google have not been doing enough to tackle fake reviews on their sites," the authority said. 

"It will be gathering further information from the two firms to determine whether they may have breached consumer law by taking insufficient action to protect shoppers from such reviews on their sites."

The probe was first opened in May of last year.