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The most shocking part to me is that this is "news." It's like saying "Exclusive: there are fake reviews on Amazon!"

Companies depend on good reviews to make sales, so dishonest companies and reviewers see mutual benefit in purchasing dishonest reviews. It's a frustrating but old problem.

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Sure, but it's also illegal to knowingly participate. The stuff on Amazon largely skates by because the products being reviewed and the businesses selling them aren't under US jurisdiction.

PR firms paying for reviews on RT on the other hand don't have that luxury...

Very interesting, didn’t know that was illegal. What US law would it violate to buy a review on Rotten Tomatoes?

People like Rotten Tomatoes. It's a trusted source of information. If you know of widespread review manipulation then that IS news because it affects how people perceive the site and it's trustworthiness. In this particular case, RT's response is commensurate with what you'd expect of an organization that takes their reputation seriously. There's nothing here that indicates this is the normal state of affairs

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