New York, (AFP) - Amazon has launched a legal action against more than 11,000 people connected to Facebook chat groups who buy or sell fake reviews of products sold on the e-commerce giant.

The document, which was submitted before a civil court in King County, to which the city of Seattle (northwest) belongs, where Amazon is based, indicated that the group intends to take advantage of this judicial path to reveal the identity of the users involved in these practices, whose identity is not publicly revealed.

These are content creators, moderators, and administrators of private chat groups, often dedicated to buying and selling fake reviews funded by companies selling their products on Amazon.

Among the most requested fake products is the “Amazon verified reviews” logo, which the platform gives to reviews written by users who have verified their purchase of the product.

And the judicial document, seen by Agence France-Presse, showed that Internet users who agree to publish fake opinions in their personal name receive money or return the money they paid in exchange for purchases.

Amazon spoke in particular about a group that, at a certain stage, had 43,000 members.

In response to questions from Agence France-Presse, Facebook, which is not directly targeted by the judicial process, indicated that it had withdrawn from its network "the majority" of the groups mentioned in the lawsuit filed by "Amazon".

A Facebook spokeswoman said that "groups that use or encourage the publication of fake reviews violate our rules and will be blocked" from the network.

"We are cooperating with Amazon on this matter and will continue to work with the industry to address the issue of spam and fake reviews," she added.