Google appeared to have removed almost 100,000 negative comments for the Robinhood app after outraged investors bombed the stock trading startup with complaints.
Amateur traders asked each other online to leave negative reviews for the app on the Google Play Store after Robinhood froze trading in GameStop shares and other stocks whose prices exploded this week.
The campaign seemed to work – Robinhood’s Android app had a one-star rating based on nearly 275,000 reviews on Thursday, according to a screenshot captured by 9to5Google.
But that number dropped to just over 176,000 at midday on Friday, when Google apparently eliminated the negative reviews, bringing Robinhood’s rating back to around four stars.
Google said it removes comments under policies that prohibit users from manipulating an app’s average star rating. The technology titan says it has long-standing systems in place to detect abuses of the review system, including reviews that are coordinated or inorganic, regardless of their content.
The company confirmed to The Verge and Gizmodo that it withdrew some reviews from Robinhood, but a Google spokesman’s response to a query from The Post did not specifically mention the app.
Google said that developers cannot remove reviews from their apps alone and are prohibited by Play Store policies from trying to influence their app ratings.
But none of this prevented angry Robinhood users from abandoning one-star ratings for the app on Friday, even after the company eased restrictions on GameStop and other actions. Some drew attention to the fact that Google was policing negative comments.
“It would give zero stars, unless apparently Google has removed tons of 1-star reviews,” wrote one person, giving Robinhood a two-star rating. “I disabled my account and I will never use them again.”