14 DAY TRIAL // Google has built a huge database of businesses and places in Google Maps, mostly with the help of users. People have been filling details and reporting errors, but, as is the case with any site that enables users to pitch in, there have been some issues about places labeled as "closed" incorrectly, due to abuse from some users.
Google has had some measures to prevent abuse, but this hasn't been much of an issue until recently, when 'label spam' saw an increase.
The issue has been bubbling for the past couple of weeks and even the New York Times has weighed in.
"About two weeks ago, news in the blogosphere made us aware that abuse -- such as "place closed" spam labels -- was occurring," Ethan Russell, senior product manager at Google, wrote.
"And since then, we've been working on improvements to the system to prevent any malicious or incorrect labeling," he said.
Google says that the changes will be rolled out in a few days, but has not provided any details on what the measures are.
"We take reports of spam and abuse very seriously and do our best to ensure the accuracy of a listing before updating it," Russell said.
"That being said, we apologize to both business owners and users for any frustration this recent issue of spam labeling has caused," he added.
Google has millions of businesses and places in its database and it's close to impossible, i.e. prohibitively expensive, to keep the list updated. This is why users are able to report problems, such as a place being closed down, or changes in the working hours.
But this implies a level of trust in the fact that users will report real issues. If several people report the same thing, Google takes steps to implement the change and update the data after reviewing it.