I think the fundamental problem is that any sufficiently influential system which provides consumer information on products or services becomes an obvious targe

I think the fundamental problem is that any sufficiently influential system which provides consumer information on products or services becomes an obvious target for those sellers and service providers to try and game. I think there are basically only 2 ways around this 1) a consumer reports type model were consumers must trust a central authority to be inviolable. 2) legislation that harshly punishes companies who try to influence their own reviews. These would likely be ineffective unless they were incredibly stringent. Is there a more reasonable model that can avoid being gamed though? I feel like more and more I have to rely on word of mouth about products which isn't great for different reasons.