A review bomb is an Internet phenomenon in which a large number of people or a few people with multiple accounts[1] post negative user reviews online in an attempt to harm the sales or popularity of a product, a service, or a business.[2] While a large number of negative reviews may simply be the result of a large number of customers independently criticizing something for poor quality, a review bomb may also be driven by a desire to draw attention to perceived political or cultural issues,[3] perhaps especially if the vendor seems unresponsive or inaccessible to direct feedback.[4][5] Review bombing also typically takes place over a short period of time and meant to disrupt established ratings that a product already has at review sites, sometimes backed by campaigns organized through online message boards.[4] It may be used as a mass-movement-driven coercion tactic, as a form of protest, or may simply be a form of trolling.[2] Review bombing is a similar practice to vote brigading.
The practice is most commonly aimed at online media review aggregators, such as Steam, Metacritic, IMDb, Rotten Tomatoes, or app stores. It may be motivated by unpopular changes to an established franchise, political or cultural controversies related to the product or service, or to the actions of its developers, vendors, or owners.[2] Some owners of aggregate systems have devised means to detect or prevent review bombing.