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Newspaper chain Gannett will halt operations of its Cambridge-based product-review website “Reviewed” this November, according to a spokesperson for the platform.
“After careful consideration and evaluation of our Reviewed business, we have decided to close the operation. We extend our sincere gratitude to our employees who have provided consumers with trusted product reviews,” the spokesperson stated.
Reviewed, which was founded in 1997, published reviews and recommendations on a wide variety of products that were independently chosen by their editors. The website, however, had faced controversy in recent momths surrounding the company’s use of artificial intelligence and its labor practicies.
Last October, Reviewed was accused by the NewsGuild of New York — a union representing the platform’s employees — of using AI to write some of the reviews and recommendations published on the site.
Gannett denied using AI for the stories, saying in a statement that the reviews in question were “created by third-party freelancers hired by a marketing agency partner, not A.I.”
Gannett had previously experimented with generating sports articles using AI but paused the initiative after the articles were found to contain awkward language and factual errors.
A NewsGuild statement released late last month reported that Gannett had notified its employees of Reviewed’s impending shutdown.
“Gannett’s actions follow months of union-busting by the company with workers engaging in multiple walkouts as they bargained for a first contract,” NewsGuild wrote in the statement.
NewsGuild-CWA President Jon Schleuss also criticized Gannett labor practicies in a statement about Reviewed’s closure.
“Today’s announcement follows a long list of unfair labor practices, inept management and stalling at the bargaining table,” Schleuss wrote.
—Staff writer Eunice S. Chae can be reached at eunice.chae@thecrimson.com.
—Staff writer Mandy Zhang can be reached at mandy.zhang@thecrimson.com. Follow her on X @mandyzhang08.
