Khairul Aming’s restaurant got positive Google reviews before opening, prompting concern over credibility and misuse of the platform.
FOLLOWING the announcement of local entrepreneur Khairul Aming’s first restaurant, Malaysians have been looking forward to showing their support.
However, the support was a little too enthusiastic after it was discovered on Threads that many of his supporters had flocked to Google to leave their “reviews”, which sparked ire.
A woman on Threads shared a screenshot of Khairul’s restaurant, Rembayung, listed on Google with a five-star rating from 120 reviews.
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“A Google review is for you to review a place after visiting it. Not a place to share your support or your hopes and dreams,” she wrote in her post.
Shortly after the reviews went viral, the Google review page was taken down.
Netizens shared her frustration, with many saying that they rely on Google reviews as a trusted source when checking out a restaurant. With the situation at hand, several users also questioned the credibility of these premature reviews.
One user even drew comparisons between said Google reviews and other reviews on e-commerce platforms, pointing out the half-hearted nature of the reviews – mainly never touching on the quality of the product.
“I want to read reviews based on how the restaurant actually is, not because you know the influencer,” one netizen commented.
“They must have done this to get a free meal,” another user said.
“This has nothing to do with Khairul Aming; it’s about immature internet users. Hopefully his team can do something about it,” said another.
