Why You Can’t Always Trust the ‘Best’ Search Results

Summary

WSJ Tech News Briefing: Why You Can’t Always Trust the ‘Best’ Search Results

Release Date: January 3, 2025 | Host: Cordelia James | The Wall Street Journal

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1. The Data Center Boom in Atlanta

Overview: The episode delves into the burgeoning demand for data centers essential for artificial intelligence (AI) advancements, spotlighting Atlanta as a prime location attracting major tech giants. However, this surge is met with resistance from local communities and lawmakers concerned about long-term urban development and environmental impacts.

Key Points:

• Atlanta’s Appeal for Data Centers:

  • Will Parker, WSJ Housing Reporter, explains Atlanta's attractiveness due to its affordable land, low electricity costs, and robust fiber optic infrastructure. These factors make it an ideal hub for companies like Meta, Google, Microsoft, and X (formerly Twitter) to establish expansive data facilities.
    • Quote (01:54): “Atlanta's got cheap land and cheap electricity and it's got fiber optic Internet connectivity that's some of the best in the country.”

• Impact on Urban Development:

  • The rapid construction of data centers is transforming both suburban and urban landscapes. Developers are repurposing empty office spaces and vacant lots traditionally slated for residential or retail projects into data-centric infrastructures.
    • Quote (02:23): “They've filled up empty office spaces downtown, but also redevelopment sites... seen as a pretty profitable investment bet right now when other real estate sectors are not looking quite as hot.”

• Community Pushback and Policy Changes:

  • In September, Atlanta's city council imposed restrictions on new data center developments near transit corridors and the Beltline. This move addresses the city's housing shortages by preserving land for future residential projects rather than allowing it to be dominated by data infrastructure.
    • Quote (03:19): “The city is worried that if all of that land fills up with data centers, by the time the market is more suitable for apartment construction again, a lot of the sites... won't be available anymore.”

• Environmental and Energy Concerns:

  • Beyond land use, there is growing apprehension about the high energy consumption of data centers and their environmental footprint. This concern is leading to increased regulatory scrutiny across other U.S. regions, such as Northern Virginia, where similar restrictions are emerging.
    • Quote (04:06): “There's been a lot of blowback to the growth of data centers really around the use of energy consumption and how much electricity they require and some of the environmental concerns related to that.”

2. Navigating the Maze of Online Product Reviews

Overview: The second segment addresses the challenges consumers face in discerning the authenticity of online product reviews. Andrea Fuller investigates the prevalence of misleading reviews and offers guidance on identifying trustworthy information to make informed purchasing decisions.

Key Points:

• The Prevalence of Fake Reviews:

  • Fuller recounts her experience searching for vacuums, where she encountered sites like Snapbuy and Product Reports that masqueraded as independent review platforms but were actually marketing frontiers.
    • Quote (05:39): “Searching the web for the best product to buy can be tough, especially when you don't know who to trust.”

• Identifying Sponsored Links and Alleged Experts:

  • Sponsored Links: These are advertisements that appear at the top of search results, often mistaken for genuine reviews. Fuller warns that not all sponsored links are trustworthy, even if they resemble reputable sites.
    • Quote (06:16): “When you search Google for something, the first couple links are going to say sponsored, and those are really just ads.”
  • Alleged Experts: Many supposed experts lack legitimacy. Indicators of inauthentic reviewers include missing contact information, stock photos instead of real images, and unresponsive customer service.
    • Quote (07:39): “The guy who was purporting to review these vacuums was actually a stock photo that appeared on even on the same website with different names.”

• Red Flags in Review Content:

  • Fuller highlights several warning signs:
    • "As Seen On" Logos: These can be misleading if the referenced media outlets have no records of featuring the product or company.
      • Quote (08:53): “One of the key things people should check out is when you see an as seen on logo... I couldn't find any articles that mentioned this vacuum or this company on Fox News's website.”
    • Suspicious Review Patterns: Excessively positive or vague reviews, especially those lacking specific details, often indicate fabricated feedback.
      • Quote (10:06): “If the positive reviews are not specific enough, if they are very vague, those are red flags.”

• The Trustpilot Deception:

  • The case study of Snapbuy revealed that displaying Trustpilot ratings without proper linkage can mislead consumers. Trustpilot eventually flagged Snapbuy for inflated reviews, emphasizing the importance of verifying third-party endorsements.
    • Quote (10:06): “If a company has Trustpilot branding on its website but doesn't actually link back to Trustpilot, that's a red flag.”
    • Quote (11:47): “Trustpilot removed those stars. And when you go to its page, it issued a warning at the top of its site.”

• Recommendations for Consumers:

  • Research the Review Source: Verify the legitimacy of the review website by checking contact details and looking for consistent, verifiable information.
  • Cross-Check Reviews: Utilize multiple trusted platforms like Consumer Reports or Wirecutter to compare opinions.
  • Look for Specificity: Genuine reviews typically contain detailed experiences, whereas fake ones are often generic.

Conclusion: The episode underscores the critical need for vigilance in both urban development influenced by tech demands and the realm of online consumerism. As data centers reshape cities like Atlanta and online reviews become increasingly sophisticated, staying informed and cautious is essential for both communities and individual consumers.

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Notable Contributors:

• Cordelia James: Host and primary narrator of the episode.
• Will Parker: WSJ Housing Reporter providing insights on data centers in Atlanta.
• Andrea Fuller: WSJ Reporter investigating the authenticity of online product reviews.

Produced By: Julie Chang, with support from Danny Lewis, Bell Lynn, Jessica Fenton, Michael Lavalle, Katherine Millsop, Aisha Al Musli, Scott Salloway, Chris Zinsley, and Falana Patterson.

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For those looking to stay ahead in the tech landscape, this episode of WSJ Tech News Briefing offers invaluable perspectives on the intersection of technology, urban planning, and consumer trust.

Transcript

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[Cordelia James]

Welcome to Tech News Briefing. It's Friday, January 3rd. I'm Cordelia James for the Wall Street Journal. The space to build data centers to support artificial intelligence is limited and everyone wants a piece. WSJ housing reporter Will Parker tells us why major tech companies have their sights set on Atlanta and why the city is pushing back. And then it's getting harder to tell which reviews online are good and which ones are too good to be true. WSJ reporter Andrea Fuller went down a rabbit hole of questionable online product rankings and she tells us what to look out for so you don't fall for phony reviews. But first, data centers provide the computing power needed for the AI boom. But the amount of space available to build them is in short supply. Big tech companies including Meta, Google, Microsoft and X have turned to Atlanta to build bigger, more powerful facilities. Data center construction is growing faster in Atlanta than in just about any other major city. Now, though, Atlanta residents and lawmakers are pushing back. For more on this, we're joined by WSJ Housing Reporter link Will Parker. Will, why do real estate developers have their sights set on Atlanta?

[Will Parker]

Atlanta's gotten really popular for data centers for a few reasons. It's got cheap land and cheap electricity and it's got fiber optic Internet connectivity that's some of the best in the country. And those are the places that real estate companies that are putting up these warehouses essentially for large computing services are looking to go to.

[Cordelia James]

Okay, so how has the presence of these data centers impacted Atlanta?

[Will Parker]

Atlanta is one of the places where they've really grown very, very quickly. A lot of them are in suburban areas, but in the city, too, there's been a lot of interest in building them. You've seen them come up in downtowns. They've filled up empty office spaces there, but also redevelopment sites. Large available empty lots in Atlanta that might be primed for apartments or retail. And other contexts of the real estate cycles have been really attract attractive to some of these data center Companies because that's a type of building that there is a lot of demand for. Banks are willing to finance it. And it's seen as a pretty profitable investment bet right now when other real estate sectors are not looking quite as hot for the time being.

[Cordelia James]

So it sounds like this could be good for cities. But you reported that in September the city council banned new data centers from opening in neighborhoods near transit and the beltline. Why is Atlanta pushing back?

[Will Parker]

Yeah, the city of Atlanta has a lot of things it would like to do with its available land. They have a housing shortage and affordability issue there that has been growing. And some of the land that data center operators are attracted to is land that would be prime for building more housing. This is land around transit corridors close to the Martyr rail station. And the problem right now is that not that many people are building apartments due to financing issues. Interest rates are much higher. Rent growth has tapered off. So investors have pulled back from that. And the city is worried that if all of that land fills up with data centers, by the time the market is more suitable for apartment construction again, a lot of the sites that would have been really great to put more housing won't be available anymore.

[Cordelia James]

What could this mean for other cities with these data centers?

[Will Parker]

Across the US There haven't been that many examples of yet to restricting the construction of new data centers to this extent. And this is really focused on the land use side of data centers. But there's been been a lot of blowback to the growth of data centers really around the use of energy consumption and how much electricity they require and some of the environmental concerns related to that. You're likely to see the pushback against these grow and to lead to more policy changes. Some of that's inevitable in Northern Virginia. You've had one county that has done something similar to Atlanta where they have restricted where the centers can be built. That's going to be more common.

[Cordelia James]

That was WSJ housing reporter Will Parker. Coming up, why you may not always be able to trust the so called best and top rated products in your search results. That's after the break.

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[Cordelia James]

Searching the web for the best product to buy can be tough, especially when you don't know who to trust. Our reporter Andrea Fuller says her family almost fell for some clever marketing when searching Google for vacuums this holiday season. She went digging and found that Snapbuy, a site that claimed to sell the top rated vacuum in the US had its glowing testimonials from productreports.org, another site that appeared among the top sponsored links in her Google search. Andrea joins us now with more. You described four fake review traps. Let's start with the first one, sponsored links. Why should we avoid them while searching?

[Andrea Fuller]

When you search Google for something, the first couple links are going to say sponsored, and those are really just ads. Somebody has paid for that to appear highly in Google search. And the case here is there was an ad for a site called Product Reports, which ostensibly looks like a review site, turned out to be more of a marketing site. But for someone like my dad, who was looking at this very quickly, looking at a lot of vacuums, most people would come across one of these links, assume it actually is an independent consumer ratings link, and then click on it. Now, some of them, obviously you can have sponsored links that take you to legitimate websites. People need to do the research associated with a particular site before they get in too deep. Google says that all ads go through automated review or human review before they're posted. And Google has ad policies, and any ads that have misleading product information violate its policies. However, in this case, Google determined that the ad linking to the product report site wasn't in violation of its policies.

[Cordelia James]

Got it. Okay, so the next trap alleged experts. What steps should you take to suss out whether or not the reviewer is legit?

[Andrea Fuller]

People, anytime they're shopping, particularly for the holidays, are going to search best vacuums, best dishwashers, best laundry machines. And you're going to get a lot of rankings. There's some ranking sites that are very reputable, whether Consumer Reports or something like Wirecutter. And there are others that you don't know whether you're looking at rankings that are legitimate or have been set up to promote a particular product. When I started looking at product reports, I found that this site didn't appear to have an address. None of its social media links worked. The guy who was purporting to review these vacuums was actually a stock photo that appeared on even on the same website with different names. And so those were ways I was able to determine actually Product Reports may not be what it says it is. I did reach out to Product Reports. The emails didn't go through that I sent to the addresses on the website. And the phone number on Product Reports website doesn't work.

[Cordelia James]

The website. Some of these look so convincing even you almost fell for one. What should people look out for on these sites?

[Andrea Fuller]

So product Reports in this case directed me to the site snapbuyer. So Snapby, it looked really glitzy, but then it had these as seen on logos for this vacuum. And one of the key things people should check out is when you see an as seen on logo. Okay, was this actually featured on something? And so one of the as seen ons was Fox News. I started doing some research and I couldn't find any articles that mentioned this vacuum or this company on Fox News's website. So that's a red flag. This site that I was looking at, it was in Germany and the only customer service phone number was in Germany. And you had to call between the hours of something like 3:00am and 9:00am Eastern time if you wanted customer service. And then you call and no one picks up. These are things that you should look around a website. Is this actually a US based company? What's their return policy? A lot of these things weren't very clear from this particular website.

[Cordelia James]

Okay, and the final trap you mentioned was five star reviews, which can be hard, especially if you're trying to shop for the best thing out there. Why might these reviews be too good to be true?

[Andrea Fuller]

So this is something that the Journal has written a lot about, fake reviews and how people can manipulate this by getting people to write positive reviews for them. However, in this particular case it was actually a step further because the site Snapby had images of Trustpilot 5 stars. And so people see Trustpilot 5 stars, they think, ah, independently this company or this product has been received support from an outside review site like trustpilot where people go in and they vote. This is a trustworthy site or not. But then of course I went to trustpilot and found, hey, wait a minute, a lot of these reviews about this company that are on trustpilot site seem to be inflated. They say unusual things like, oh, this was a great shopping experience. I haven't actually received a product yet from them. Which are red flags. If the positive reviews are not specific enough, if they are very vague, those are red flags. The negative reviews on the other hand, were much more concerning, which say, I never actually got a product. I couldn't reach this company. They have no customer service. And so one thing you should check is when a company has trustpilot branding on its website but doesn't actually link back to Trust trustpilot, that's a red flag. And after I raised this issue in this particular case to trustpilot, trustpilot put a warning about this company on its website. At the time I called them SNAP. I had 4.4 stars on Trustpilot and Trustpilot removed those stars. And when you go to its page, it issued a warning at the top of its site.

[Cordelia James]

What about Snap Buy? How did they respond?

[Andrea Fuller]

So I reached out to Snapby for comment a number of times. Snapby did respond to me and I had asked the questions a number of times through a number of channels over the course of a number of days. But ultimately they didn't answer any of my questions or engage about their relationship with product reports. The company that owns snapbuy was the company that was paying for the product reports ad they wouldn't engage with questions about their trustpilot branding.

[Cordelia James]

That was our reporter, Andrea Fuller. And that's it for Tech News Briefing. Today's show was produced by Julie Chang. I'm your host, Cordelia James. We had additional support this week from Danny Lewis and Bell Lynn. Jessica Fenton and Michael Lavalle wrote our theme music. Our supervising producer is Katherine Millsop. Our development producer is Aisha Al Musli. Scott Salloway and Chris Zinsley are the deputy editors. And Falana Patterson is the Wall Street Journal's head of news audio. We'll be back this afternoon with TNB Tech Minute. Thanks for listening.