Rotten Tomatoes Website Deletes User Reviews Amid Integrity Concerns, Audit Announced
LOS ANGELES (September 2023) - The popular film and television review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes has removed a significant number of user-submitted reviews from its platform, citing an internal investigation into content integrity. According to a statement released by Fandango, the parent company of Rotten Tomatoes, the action was taken after an algorithm detected a coordinated effort to artificially inflate or deflate audience scores for several major releases. The review deletion, which occurred over the weekend, affected both verified and unverified user accounts, prompting an immediate third-party audit. Official sources confirmed that the affected scores were recalculated, with at least three high-profile films experiencing a change of more than ten percentage points in their Audience Score. The company has not yet identified the source of the manipulation but has pledged to update its verification protocols.