Recently, American media giant Gannett announced its decision to shut down its product review website, Reviewed, on November 1st. This decision has come as a shock to many, as Reviewed has long been providing recommendations for a wide range of products, from shoes to home appliances, and employs professional journalists to conduct tests and reviews. However, Reviewed has recently been embroiled in a controversy over its content sources, sparking external skepticism.
According to insiders, Lark-Marie Antón, a spokesperson for Reviewed, stated: "After careful consideration and evaluation of our Reviewed business, we have decided to close the website. We express our heartfelt gratitude to all employees who have provided reliable product reviews for consumers." However, Reviewed has faced increasingly stringent scrutiny in recent months, even from its own union members.
Last October, Reviewed employees publicly accused Gannett of publishing AI-generated product reviews on the website. The articles were quite stiff in wording, and employees discovered that the authors whose names appeared in the articles seemed not to exist on platforms like LinkedIn, raising doubts about the authenticity of these authors.
In response to these allegations, Gannett claimed that the articles were written by a third-party marketing company, AdVon Commerce, and that the original reviews were not properly disclosed. However, Gannett denied the use of AI. Previous reports indicated that AdVon was the same company responsible for similar incidents at Sports Illustrated, which also published similar product reviews attributed to freelance writers. In the case of Sports Illustrated, evidence of AI involvement in content creation was quite apparent: the author's avatar was sold on an AI image website. Nevertheless, Sports Illustrated still insisted that AdVon had assured them the content was written by real people.
Investigations into AdVon showed that the company had published a large amount of marketing content online, with some former employees stating that this content was indeed AI-generated. AdVon's CEO, Ben Faw, has secured contracts for news agencies over the years through his connections in the media industry, often setting up complex marketing schemes for personal gain. Their marketing content is spread across small blogs and media outlets like Us Weekly and the Los Angeles Times. In response to a report from The Verge, Faw stated that AdVon's generated affiliate revenue helped publishers fund newsroom operations and salaries, offering "human-only, AI-enhanced, and hybrid solutions."
Antón did not provide specific reasons for the closure of Reviewed. Typically, product reviews are considered profitable projects for publishers, attracting readers to search for purchase advice through search engines and profiting when readers buy products through articles. However, in recent months, other news agencies, including the Associated Press, have also announced similar projects, but even historically profitable content now faces threats from changes in search engine algorithms. Some independent website users report a continuous decline in their search traffic, and Google's shift towards AI search tools could further undermine these revenues.
Reviewed's union workers have engaged in several limited strikes during negotiations with Gannett's management. The most recent was in July, where employees stated they were expected to take on additional work without corresponding salary adjustments. Gannett has not disclosed whether Reviewed employees will be offered new positions within the company or laid off.
Key Points:
📰 Gannett announces the closure of Reviewed, reasons unspecified, effective November 1st.
🤖 Reviewed website recently embroiled in AI content controversy, with employees accusing the use of AI-generated reviews.
💼 Employee union has had multiple conflicts with Gannett management, failing to reach an agreement on salary adjustments.