Final summer time, the workers at Gannett’s shopper opinions web site Reviewed obtained horrible information: the media big was shuttering your complete vertical and can be shedding dozens of workers. Efficient November 1st, Reviewed would stop operations. Gannett blamed Google’s altering search algorithm, which had “degraded [its] enterprise mannequin.” The shuttering was a blow to the greater than 70 workers, who, in Gannett’s phrases, can be “affected” by the choice. The closure got here after an already tumultuous interval: in 2023, the NewsGuild of New York, which represents unionized Reviewed employees, publicly accused Gannett of working AI-generated product opinions on the positioning. The content material was pulled after workers outcry.
You wouldn’t know any of this backstory — or that Reviewed is technically shut down — if you happen to have been shopping the positioning right this moment: a smattering of articles on the homepage tout one of the best rakes, gradual cookers, and video doorbells of 2025. Reviewed revealed almost two dozen articles throughout 2025’s CES, and its Instagram web page posted intermittent updates from the commerce present occasion. The homepage seems unchanged — there’s no discover for readers that the positioning is meant to be lifeless. It trudges on like a zombie, promising 1000’s of hours of product testing by reliable specialists.
Lots of the articles promising “one of the best” merchandise of 2025 are, actually, previous tales retrofitted with new, well timed headlines. An article for one of the best patio heaters, for instance, signifies the story was really final up to date two years in the past in January 2023 and written by a workers member who not works at Reviewed.
When the shuttering of the positioning was introduced, the understanding of former workers was that the web site would stay on-line for a time period. What they didn’t anticipate was that their current work can be up to date and that Reviewed would proceed on as if nothing had occurred.
What precisely is happening at Reviewed, a web site that’s alleged to be shut down?
“So far as we have been conscious, the positioning was going to close down completely, and a number of writers have been saving PDFs of their work in case the positioning went fully offline,” says a former staffer, who requested anonymity attributable to separation agreements they signed. “None of us have been conscious that the positioning was going to proceed being up to date, nor that our bylines can be up to date and promoted on the positioning.”
So what precisely is happening at Reviewed, a web site that’s alleged to be shut down? Even former workers members have been not sure however have watched as their former office trudges on.
One identify reappears throughout completely different pages: StackCommerce, an internet procuring platform that works with publishers to create internet online affiliate marketing content material. A number of the tales from CES on Reviewed are authored by individuals who say they work at StackCommerce. A web page for open jobs redirects to StackCommerce’s careers web page, as does Reviewed’s privateness coverage web page. StackCommerce’s chief working officer is the previous normal supervisor of Reviewed, based on LinkedIn. Gannett didn’t reply to The Verge’s questions and as a substitute directed us to StackCommerce.
Reached for remark, StackCommerce CEO Karl Home confirmed to The Verge through e mail that the corporate acquired Reviewed on December 1st, together with the model, IP, area, and content material, however declined to offer phrases of the sale.
“StackCommerce engaged with Gannett after they introduced they have been shutting down Reviewed in August 2024,” Home stated. “StackCommerce has since employed 5 former Reviewed workers.”
The acquisition was largely saved quiet. There seems to have been no formal announcement by both celebration — till The Verge reached out to StackCommerce in January. Shortly after, StackCommerce shared a weblog put up asserting the acquisition.
Readers who relied on Reviewed suggestions have seemingly not realized that the positioning has modified fingers. It’s additionally not clear how opinions and suggestions are carried out given the brand new possession. Lots of Reviewed’s editorial guarantees stay on the positioning, just like the declare that the positioning spends “1000’s of hours” on “powerful, goal, hands-on testing” of merchandise. StackCommerce didn’t reply to questions in regards to the firm’s testing course of.
“Testing was hands-on and carried out by both devoted testers from the labs, or educated specialists that may often take a look at the product (whether or not it’s an equipment or a pair of sneakers) for a big period of time, typically as much as per week or extra,” the previous Reviewed worker stated. It’s not clear how the outlet is deciding the “greatest” merchandise of 2025 — and from the reader’s perspective, the positioning appears to be like unchanged. For instance, by Gannett’s personal admission, the product testing lab in Cambridge, Massachusetts, closed final yr, but the web site nonetheless references an in-lab testing course of.
Complicating the matter is that lots of the Reviewed workers members who misplaced their jobs final fall have been unionized employees (some workers in senior positions have been reassigned elsewhere in USA As we speak). The connection between Gannett and Reviewed was contentious: workers had beforehand walked off the job after they have been unable to safe bargaining dates with administration.
On the time of the AI saga, the union raised considerations about their members’ futures at Gannett that now appear prescient.
“It’s an try and undermine and change members of the union whether or not they’re utilizing AI, subcontractors of a advertising and marketing agency, or some mixture of each,” the union beforehand advised The Verge in an announcement.
