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Home / Lifestyle

Why Amazon has restricted reviews on new Harry and Meghan biography

NZ Herald
24 Aug, 2020 07:49 PM3 mins to read

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in 2019 Prince William and Kate officially removed all mention of Prince Harry and Meghan from their royal charity. Video / AP

Amazon has put a limit on reviews of new royal biography Finding Freedom after "noticing unusual activity" on its website.

The bombshell biography about Prince Harry and Meghan Markle was released earlier this month and quickly reached the top of Amazon's bestseller list, writes the Daily Mail.

But it's now been revealed that royal fan accounts have been encouraging the "Sussex Squad" to write positive reviews and upvote existing posts about the book to boost its rating.

Amazon has now restricted who can review the book, writing online: "Amazon has noticed unusual reviewing activity on this product. Due to this activity, we have limited this product to verified purchase reviews."

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Some fan accounts have been part of the campaign to get the book five-star reviews because they think there's a rival campaign to leave bad reviews.

One wrote on Twitter: "There is an organised effort to leave bad reviews for Finding Freedom on Amazon and to mark hateful reviews as 'helpful' so they appear first."

"#SussexSquad, the trolls are upvoting all the negative reviews on Amazon by rating them as helpful (some are rated helpful by at least 400 people)," another wrote.

"If you have time, please go rate the positive reviews. Please share, thanks."

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But others wrote that negative reviews shouldn't be removed or hidden.

Reviews of new biography Finding Freedom have been restricted on Amazon. Photo / AP
Reviews of new biography Finding Freedom have been restricted on Amazon. Photo / AP

"So I'm hearing that the #SussexSquad have launched an operation to hide and remove negative reviews posted about Finding Freedom on Amazon," one user said.

"Sorry but just because you don't agree with negative reviews - it doesn't mean they should be deleted, removed or hidden."

Positive or not, several people have had their reviews of the book rejected by Amazon.

"My review of Finding Freedom was rejected. Seriously? It was civilised," one claimed.

The book is currently sitting at 3.8 out of 5 on the UK Amazon site, with nearly 1000 reviews.

It was declared a bestseller within the first five days of its release according to Nielsen Book, with 31,000 copies sold in the UK. It's also topped Amazon US and UK bestseller charts.

The biography offers a look into Meghan and Harry's time as senior royals and reveals plenty of details on their shock exit.

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