Zerodha founder Nithin Kamath on why he thinks there may be an entire parallel economy selling app ratings on Google and Apple app stores

Zerodha co-founder and CEO Nithin Kamath has raised concerns about the authenticity of app reviews on the Google Play Store and Apple App Store. In a recent post on social media platform X (earlier Twitter), Kamath questioned the legitimacy of many 5-star reviews for his brokerage firm and other financial services apps, suggesting that a significant number may be fake or even AI-generated. He further speculated that a "parallel economy" may exist where companies purchase ratings to boost their app's ranking.

In the post, Kamath wrote: “I wonder how many @GoogleIndia Play Store and @Apple App Store reviews are genuine. I was going through Zerodha's reviews and compared them with those of other financial services apps in India. Most of the 5-star reviews seem fake—many even read like AI-generated content.
I'm guessing many apps are either willingly or forcibly buying ratings to rank higher in their category. So there's probably an entire parallel economy selling app ratings.”
The post has already gone viral with over a lakh views and several comments.

Responding to this post, one user wrote: “There is. I've seen it first-hand on amazon. Sellers add 20/- to the cost of the product and add cards in the shipping box that offer 20/- to 50/- for a 5-star review on Amazon. I have seen that from at least 20 sellers. (I ordered a lot on amazon). Then, there are actual legitimate (?) companies similar to the scam call centers that call and pay real money for reviewing places or businesses 5 star on google reviews.”

“Been in Fintech security and compliance since last 4 years and have dealt with fair amount of frauds. Only a 3 stakeholder (Fintechs - Playstores - Regulator) involvement can solve this, but each one seem to be shirking the responsibility,” another user noted.

Meanwhile, a third user added: “Yes, many ratings across all online platforms/websites are fabricated. I generally will go through comments to understand genuine rating. We probably need a platform for true feedback 🤷”