Review bombing is a term that refers to the act of flooding a product or service with large volumes of negative or positive reviews, typically on online platforms. The motivation behind these actions can range from coercion and protest to trolling. Common targets are online review aggregators such as Steam and Rotten Tomatoes, but it can also impact business review platforms like TripAdvisor and Yelp[3]. Review bombing can have a significant impact on a product’s reputation[1] and customer[2] goodwill, and can influence sales[4] and user perceptions. There are different types of review bombs – positive, negative, coordinated, organic, and reverse – each with its own unique impact and response from communities and developers. Notable incidents, such as with Assassin’s Creed Unity and Fallout 76, have led to changes in platform policies and legal implications.
A review bomb is an Internet phenomenon in which a large number of people or a few people with multiple accounts post negative user reviews online in an attempt to harm the sales or popularity of a product, a service, or a business. While a large number of negative reviews may simply be the result of a large number of customers independently criticizing something for poor quality, a review bomb may also be driven by a desire to draw attention to perceived political or cultural issues, perhaps especially if the vendor seems unresponsive or inaccessible to direct feedback. Review bombing also typically takes place over a short period of time and meant to disrupt established ratings that a product already has at review sites, sometimes backed by campaigns organized through online message boards. It may be used as a mass-movement-driven coercion tactic, as a form of protest, or may simply be a form of trolling. Review bombing is a similar practice to vote brigading.
The practice is most commonly aimed at online media review aggregators, such as Steam, Metacritic, Rotten Tomatoes, or app stores. It may be motivated by unpopular changes to an established franchise, political or cultural controversies related to the product or service, or to the actions of its developers, vendors, or owners. Some owners of aggregate systems have devised means to detect or prevent review bombing.