Since its release on August 11th, Finding Freedom, the explosive biography of Meghan Markle and Prince Harry, continues to be a huge success. Nevertheless, some readers may have been influenced by the positive reviews posted en masse on Amazon. A problem to which the site was quick to react.
It was undoubtedly one of the most anticipated literary releases of the summer. So much so that three months before its release, Finding Freedom, the explosive Sussex biography written by Caroyln Durand and Omid Scobbie, was already at the top of Amazon’s sales of books related to royal families.
If this book was so popular, even before it was unveiled, it was because readers knew they were going to find little nuggets, but also and above all crisp revelations about the British royal family.
If the authors have evoked the tense relations between Princes Harry and William, Kate Middleton also takes credit for it. This is also the reason why this biography, which also appeared in France, frightened the Crown very much. Faced with the important – and rapid – success of Finding Freedom, Amazon wondered.
As our colleagues from the Daily Mail reported on Monday, August 24, the site recently noticed “unusual activity” in connection with the explosive biography of the Sussex couple.
On the British version of Amazon, Finding Freedom received a very good rating of 3.8 out of 5, “with nearly 1,000 reader reviews”. The platform didn’t take long to figure out what was going on: several Meghan Markle and Prince Harry fan accounts asked other users to “write their own positive reviews” and “vote on the book’s existing publications in order to increase its rating”.
Disgruntled Sussex fans
As a result of this unusual activity, Amazon made a decision and informed its users: “Amazon noticed unusual review activity on this product (the book Finding Freedom by Carolyn Durand and Omid Scobie, editor’s note).
Because of this activity, we have limited this product to verified purchase notices,” the site announced. Unsurprisingly, this new rule was not to the liking of Sussex fans, who immediately mobilized a campaign to give the biography concerned “five-star reviews,” our colleagues said.
“There is an organized effort to leave bad reviews for Finding Freedom on Amazon and to mark hateful reviews as ‘useful’ so that they appear first,” one web user was offended.
Another tried to temper it: “Sorry, but just because you disagree with negative reviews – it doesn’t mean they should be deleted, removed or hidden.” One thing is for sure, the Sussex biography, which has surpassed the bestseller lists of Amazon US and Amazon UK, continues to make a splash.
Photo credits : Agency / Bestimage
