Review Manipulation: Literature Review, and Future Research Agenda

Background: The phenomenon of review manipulation and fake reviews has gained Information Systems (IS) scholars’ attention during recent years. Scholarly research in this domain has delved into the causes and consequences of review manipulation. However, we find that the findings are diverse, and the studies do not portray a systematic approach. This study synthesizes the findings from a multidisciplinary perspective and presents an integrated framework to understand the mechanism of review manipulation. Method: The study reviews 88 relevant articles on review manipulation spanning a decade and a half. We adopted an iterative coding approach to synthesizing the literature on concepts and categorized them independently into potential themes. Results: We present an integrated framework that shows the linkages between the different themes, namely, the prevalence of manipulation, impact of manipulation, conditions and choice for manipulation decision, characteristics of fake reviews, models for detecting spam reviews, and strategies to deal with manipulation. We also present the characteristics of review manipulation and cover both operational and conceptual issues associated with the research on this topic. Conclusions: Insights from the study will guide future research on review manipulation and fake reviews. The study presents a holistic view of the phenomenon of review manipulation. It informs various online platforms to address fake reviews towards building a healthy and sustainable environment

Artificial intelligence and automation in endoscopy and surgery

Modern endoscopy relies on digital technology, from high-resolution imaging sensors and displays to electronics connecting configurable illumination and actuation systems for robotic articulation. In addition to enabling more effective diagnostic and therapeutic interventions, the digitization of the procedural toolset enables video data capture of the internal human anatomy at unprecedented levels. Interventional video data encapsulate functional and structural information about a patient’s anatomy as well as events, activity and action logs about the surgical process. This detailed but difficult-to-interpret record from endoscopic procedures can be linked to preoperative and postoperative records or patient imaging information. Rapid advances in artificial intelligence, especially in supervised deep learning, can utilize data from endoscopic procedures to develop systems for assisting procedures leading to computer-assisted interventions that can enable better navigation during procedures, automation of image interpretation and robotically assisted tool manipulation. In this Perspective, we summarize state-of-the-art artificial intelligence for computer-assisted interventions in gastroenterology and surgery

Are Online Consumer Reviews Credible? A Predictive Model based on Deep Learning

As the importance of online consumer reviews has grown, the concerns about their credibility being damaged by the presence of fake reviews have also grown. Extant literature reveals the importance of online reviews for consumers. Yet, there is a lack of research in the literature that considers consumer perception while developing a predictive model for the credibility of online reviews. This research aims to fill this gap by combining two different streams in the literature namely human-driven and data-driven approaches. To do so, we use two datasets with different labelling approaches to develop a predictive model, the first one is labelled based on the Yelp filtering algorithm and the second one is labelled based on the crowd’s perception towards credibility. Results from our predictive model reveal that it can predict credibility with a performance of 82% AUC, using reviews’ attributes namely, length, subjectivity, readability, extremity, external and internal consistency

Detection of Stock Manipulation Influencer Content using Supervised Learning

In recent years, social media influencers have emerged as key players in stock manipulation schemes. Despite their growing impact, methods to detect such activities remain scarcely explored. In this study, we examine the social media content of stock manipulation influencers (SMIs) implicated in a $100 million fraud case by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in 2022. Leveraging natural language processing (NLP) techniques, we first investigate the linguistic characteristics present in the social media content published by SMIs. Next, we develop and evaluate supervised learning models to detect manipulative content. Our results have significant implications for investors, regulators, and the broader financial community. They reveal the unique linguistic characteristics of SMI content and demonstrate the potential of machine-learning and deep-learning-based techniques in advancing fraud detection systems

Man vs machine – Detecting deception in online reviews

This study focused on three main research objectives: analyzing the methods used to identify deceptive online consumer reviews, evaluating insights provided by multi-method automated approaches based on individual and aggregated review data, and formulating a review interpretation framework for identifying deception. The theoretical framework is based on two critical deception-related models, information manipulation theory and self-presentation theory. The findings confirm the interchangeable characteristics of the various automated text analysis methods in drawing insights about review characteristics and underline their significant complementary aspects. An integrative multi-method model that approaches the data at the individual and aggregate level provides more complex insights regarding the quantity and quality of review information, sentiment, cues about its relevance and contextual information, perceptual aspects, and cognitive material