review bomb

English

Noun

review bomb (plural review bombs)

1. (Internet) A deluge of negative user reviews.
   • 2022, Oscar Bernardes, Vanessa Amorim, António Carrizo Moreira, editors, Handbook of Research on Cross-Disciplinary Uses of Gamification in Organizations, IGI Global, →ISBN, page 340:

     The phenomenon of Review Bomb can be seen as a particular case of spam attack where users publish, in a short time span, fake or misleading reviews on specific products, brands or services, with the aim of discrediting or promoting these.

Hypernyms

• vote brigading

Verb

review bomb (third-person singular simple present review bombs, present participle review bombing, simple past and past participle review bombed)

1. (Internet) To give something a deluge of negative user reviews.
   • 2021, Donald A. Barclay, chapter 4, in Disinformation: The Nature of Facts and Lies in the Post-truth Era, Rowman & Littlefield, →ISBN, page 110:

     For one well-known example, the 2016 remake of Ghostbusters was massively review bombed before the film had even been released, with a good part of the downvoting coming from men who objected to the remake's all-female cast.

   • 2023 June 26, Alexandra Alter, Elizabeth A. Harris, “How Review-Bombing Can Tank a Book Before It’s Published”, in The New York Times‎^[1], →ISSN:

     Lincoln Michel, the author of the sci-fi novel “The Body Scout,” said he fears his books might get review bombed if he tangles with people online.