Amazon has been accused of spying on reviewers, after blogger Imy Santiago was told she knew the author of a book personally.
Except she doesn't actually know the author at all - she just follows them on social media.
Santiago says she tried several times to post a review on the unnamed title, but was told that it was in violation of the site's policy.
After probing the web retailer about its decision, she discovered that her comments were blocked because they had reason to believe she knows the author.
She took the issue further to the Review Appeals Department, saying: "I am left speechless as I don't know any authors on a level you are suggesting. I merely follow authors on social media: Twitter, Facebook, Google+, tsu, and on your partner site Goodreads.
"I interact with these authors during takeover events. I am an avid reader and I buy my books like anyone else does.
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"Your claims are unfounded, and as a paying consumer, I demand my review be posted. It is unfair to the authors whose work I love, to be punished for a claim that simply cannot stand. I don't know any authors on a personal level."
However, it continued to reject her review claiming that she knows the author personally. This has led Santiago to believe that Amazon may be snooping on reviewers' social media profiles.
"The Big Brother mentality Amazon is employing is appalling, and crosses an ethical line of unfathomable proportions," she wrote on her blog.
"What quantifiable and verifiable ways is Amazon using to determine if I know the author of a book, or not? The fact that they refuse to elaborate as to how I 'know the author personally' is highly concerning."
In a statement to Digital Spy, Amazon said: "We have a long standing policy of not commenting on individual customer accounts or on specific methods of determining review manipulation.
"However, when we detect that elements of a reviewer's Amazon account match elements of an author's Amazon account, we conclude that there is too much risk of review bias that would erode customer trust, and thus we remove the review. I can assure you that we investigate each case.
"We have built mechanisms, both manual and automated over the years that detect, remove or prevent reviews which violate guidelines. We encourage authors to continue to build their network and community as they normally would. This will not impact customer reviews."
