Rotten Tomatoes announced this week that is taking a series of steps in what the company says will help verify that users, and not online trolls, are posting ratings and reviews of a movie they have actually seen.
“The introduction of Verified Ratings and Reviews is a similar evolution, one designed to meet different challenges,” Rotten Tomatoes said in a statement Thursday. “In the face of increased skepticism about online user ratings and reviews, and greater demand for transparency about how user scores are generated, we’re offering something simple: ratings and reviews from people we can confirm have purchased a ticket to the movie they’re rating, which we think is a strong indicator someone has seen the movie.”
Now Rotten Tomatoes users who purchase tickets on Fandango, which owns Rotten Tomatoes, will get a verified badge next to their review. The new ratings feature will take effect this Memorial Day weekend with films like Booksmart and Disney’s Aladdin up first.
Fandango president Paul Yanover says in a statement that this step will increase consumer confidence in the sites.
Rotten Tomatoes’ claims the move is in reaction to online trolls who post negative scores for films that hadn’t been released. The company claims this happened recently to Captain Marvel. The company responded by shutting down user reviews until a film officially hits theaters.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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