Over the last few months, I’ve been seeing a LOT of profiles we’d coin as “mega posters” spamming Maps Listings with photos that aren’t of the actual business they are posting to. One profile, in particular, caught my attention after the user stole photos from my profile and started posting them as his own. After glancing at this user’s profile, I started seeing that he is making a habit out of posting irrelevant photos to listings, in an attempt to get the number one photo. No matter the cost.
I’ve put together a few examples to share. As you can see, it’s clear that the photo that the user is adding to these listings is FAR from the actual location. Google Maps listings are there to help users find a business and users have a reasonable expectation that the information on the listing is accurate. When listings are spammed with photos that are not of the actual business, it compromises the integrity of the entire platform and will, without a doubt, cause a negative experience for the user. Imagine that you clicked one of these listings and were trying to get an idea of what the business looked like so that it was easy to spot while driving. But you were looking for a building that looked one way, when in reality, the exterior of the actual business is drastically different than the photo on the listing. Aside from the fact that this is a violation of the terms they agreed to upon creating their profile, it compromises the integrity of the entire Google Maps platform.
So this leads me to ask … Does the ‘flag’ feature actually help Google maintain the integrity of the business listings on Maps or do the reports go ignored until a certain threshold of flags are received? How does Google determine the legitimacy of a photo if they do review it after being flagged? I can’t imagine that there is a human assigned to look at each photo that gets flagged but if there isn’t, does that mean that going through the steps to flag photos is a waste of time for users?
All of these examples below are from the same User’s profile. On the left, you’ll see the photo he posted to a particular listing and on the right, you’ll see a screen grab from Google’s Streetview feature for the same business. As you can see for yourself, the photo he posted is not of the actual business.
The two photos below are screenshots taken from his activity. You can see that he’s using the same photo, posting it to multiple locations, despite the fact that this is NOT the exterior of any of these locations. Not a single one.
This leads me to my next question … how can local Guides report someone else for stealing their photos and using them as their own? I’ve gone through the report profile feature and the best option that fits is “copywrite violation” but the process to submit that is tedious and leans more towards a legal side of things, versus what I’m experiencing from this particular profile. For most, it might not be a big deal. It might even flatter some. But for those of us who take pride in our profiles, striving to take quality photos that end up being the featured photo on the listing, and love watching that view count climb, it’s frustrating.
The photo below is an example of what I am talking about. The photo on the left-hand side is a photo I posted to the Maps listing. On the right, you’ll notice that this is my exact photo (with the two people removed). This particular user actually was able to steal about a handful or two of my top viewed photos, post them to his profile and, in a few cases, was able to bump me from the featured photo position.
Has anyone else experienced either of these scenarios? Do you have any tips on how you were able to remedy the situation? Do you have any thoughts/insight on how we, as Guides, can help Google ensure that listings are providing users with the most accurate information as possible?
@Kristen_NYC @DeniGu @ @Ority @InaS Perhaps one/some of you have some guidance or advice you can share with us??
I do, however, love the idea of a meetup to confront the perpetrators. It would feel very much like Hidden Camera.