Google appeared to be removing nearly 100,000 negative reviews for the Robinhood app after furious investors bombarded fledgling stock trading with complaints.
Amateur traders online urged each other to leave negative reviews for the app on the Google Play Store after Robinhood stalled trading on GameStop stocks and other stocks whose prices had exploded this week.
The campaign appeared to be working – Robinhood’s Android app received a star rating on Thursday based on nearly 275,000 reviews, according to a screenshot taken by 9to5Google.
But that number had dropped to just over 176,000 by noon on Friday, as Google apparently cleaned up the bad reviews, bringing Robinhood’s rating back to about four stars.
Google said it is removing ratings based on policies that prohibit users from manipulating an app’s average star rating. The tech titan says it has long-established systems to detect rating system abuse, including ratings that are coordinated or inorganic regardless of their content.
The company confirmed to The Verge and Gizmodo that it had removed some Robinhood reviews, but a Google spokesperson’s response to a question from The Post did not specifically mention the app.
Google said developers cannot remove reviews of their apps themselves, and Play Store policies prohibit influencing the ratings of their apps.
But none of that stopped angry Robinhood users Friday from dropping one-star reviews for the app, even after the company relaxed restrictions on GameStop and other stocks. Some cited the fact that Google was monitoring the negative comments.
“Would give zero stars, except that Google apparently removed tons of the 1-star review,” wrote one person, who gave Robinhood a two-star rating. “I have deactivated my account and I will never use it again.”