The whole GameStop/AMC and /r/WallStreetBets issue has captivated the nation the past week or so and the saga doesn’t seem to be ending anytime soon. People are still angry at hedge funds and trading platforms that have been blocking purchases of popular stocks. Of course, the issue is pretty complicated but one entity that is suffering from user sentiment is investment app Robinhood. They are now back to a 1-star rating on the Google Play Store, just days after Google seemingly removed almost 100,000 reviews that caused the low ratings initially.
At the height of the GameStop issue last week, Robinhood was flooded with negative reviews on the Play Store and ended up with a 1-star rating with almost 275,000 reviews. But as Google told The Verge, they had to remove 100,000 of those as they violated the review policies of the platform. They said they are banning reviews that are meant to “manipulate the rating” of an app and those 100,000 violated that policy.
When they removed the review violations, Robinhood returned to their previous four-star average with 180,000 reviews. But it looks like people are really angry that the trading platform doesn’t live up to its name. Days later, they are now back to 1.1 stars and with a high of 305,000 reviews. Google says that this time around, these reviews are not violating any policy and were not similar to the ones they removed. So this means that 1.1-star rating will stay, unless people start giving them good reviews again.
Google clarifies too that their app review systems are not shielding apps from negative reviews but helps developers be protected from things like “coordinated review bombing” and to prevent the system “from being artificially manipulated”. What they want is to bring a “genuine and trustworthy view” of an app. Basically, they want actual user experience reviews, regardless of whether people are currently mad at the app or the developer.
It looks like the negative reviews is happening on the Google Play Store as Robinhood still has a 4-star review on the App Store. Let’s see how it will change if and when the GameStop issue dies down.