Bangkok: Before downloading an application, many people often glance at the star rating first. Four and a half stars and over ten thousand reviews-they assume these numbers indicate reliability. But the question few people ask is, where do those reviews come from, and how trustworthy are they?
According to Thai News Agency, the 2025 Global Digital Ecosystem Security Report reveals that Apple's App Store platform is beginning to complicate what once seemed simple. The company reported that in the same year, its system detected and removed nearly 195 million fraudulent ratings and reviews out of over 1.3 billion processed. In other words, approximately one in seven reviews submitted were deemed by the system to "not be visible to users."
This phenomenon is not new in the app industry. There have long been underground businesses that write fake reviews and artificially inflate star ratings for apps. Some use networks of thousands of bot accounts to systematically manipulate numbers. Dishonest developers use this method to boost their apps' rankings or create a false sense of credibility to attract new users. Apple states that by 2025, the company will have blocked nearly 7,800 fraudulent apps from appearing in search results and another 11,500 from appearing on charts. This means that these apps may have previously appeared in some users' search results before being removed.
It's worth noting that the average user has almost no way of knowing whether the reviews they see have been filtered or not. The digital ecosystem is designed to make the numbers look clean and trustworthy, but the processes behind the scenes are complex and require enormous resources. Furthermore, even "filtered" reviews don't guarantee that every comment is written by someone who actually uses the app. Detecting bots and fake reviews is an endless competition; defenses develop systems, and attackers adapt their strategies accordingly.
Media literacy researchers often advise users to always read negative reviews first, because fabricated positive reviews are often written in broad and vague terms, while genuine negative reviews usually specify specific problems. Additionally, be wary of reviews that are short but give the highest star rating, or reviews posted rapidly in a short period of time, which may be a sign of manipulation of ratings.
Fake reviews aren't as rare as you might think, and they often disguise themselves as looking natural. Here are some signs to watch out for: very short reviews with a full 5-star rating, such as "Great, highly recommend!", without any details; dozens of reviews posted on the same day or within a single week; language that sounds strange or too formal for a typical review; and an account that has written only one review for this app.
Apps that warrant further scrutiny include newly launched apps with thousands of reviews already, apps with unusually high star ratings compared to similar apps, and apps that request excessive access to your mobile data. Before downloading any app, you should search for the app name on Google to see reviews from external sources; always read negative reviews first, as they often provide more useful information; check if the developers respond to reviews, which is a sign of a legitimate team; and if the app involves finance or personal information, search for the developer's company name as well.
The star rating on the screen represents one set of data, not the final answer. The platform's filtering system helps to some extent, but the user's eye is the final hurdle that no algorithm can replace. Therefore, remember to double-check before downloading.