Final summer season, the employees at Gannett’s shopper evaluations web site Reviewed acquired horrible information: the media big was shuttering all the vertical and could 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, could 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 staff, publicly accused Gannett of working AI-generated product evaluations on the location. The content material was pulled after employees outcry.
You wouldn’t know any of this backstory — or that Reviewed is technically shut down — for those who had been shopping the location as we speak: a smattering of articles on the homepage tout the perfect rakes, sluggish cookers, and video doorbells of 2025. Reviewed printed practically 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 location is meant to be lifeless. It trudges on like a zombie, promising hundreds of hours of product testing by reliable consultants.
Most of the articles promising “the perfect” merchandise of 2025 are, actually, previous tales retrofitted with new, well timed headlines. An article for the perfect 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 employees member who now not works at Reviewed.
When the shuttering of the location was introduced, the understanding of former employees was that the web site would stay on-line for a time period. What they didn’t anticipate was that their current work could be up to date and that Reviewed would proceed on as if nothing had occurred.
What precisely is occurring at Reviewed, a web site that’s presupposed to be shut down?
“So far as we had been conscious, the location was going to close down completely, and a number of writers had been saving PDFs of their work in case the location went utterly offline,” says a former staffer, who requested anonymity attributable to separation agreements they signed. “None of us had been conscious that the location was going to proceed being up to date, nor that our bylines could be up to date and promoted on the location.”
So what precisely is occurring at Reviewed, a web site that’s presupposed to be shut down? Even former employees members have been uncertain however have watched as their former office trudges on.
One title reappears throughout completely different pages: StackCommerce, a web-based purchasing platform that works with publishers to create internet affiliate marketing content material. Among 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 basic supervisor of Reviewed, in line with 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 electronic mail that the corporate acquired Reviewed on December 1st, together with the model, IP, area, and content material, however declined to supply phrases of the sale.
“StackCommerce engaged with Gannett after they introduced they had 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 submit asserting the acquisition.
Readers who relied on Reviewed suggestions have seemingly not realized that the location has modified arms. It’s additionally not clear how evaluations and suggestions are carried out given the brand new possession. Lots of Reviewed’s editorial guarantees stay on the location, just like the declare that the location spends “hundreds 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 consultants that will normally take a look at the product (whether or not it’s an equipment or a pair of sneakers) for a major period of time, generally as much as every week or extra,” the previous Reviewed worker stated. It’s not clear how the outlet is deciding the “finest” merchandise of 2025 — and from the reader’s perspective, the location seems to be 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 most of the Reviewed employees members who misplaced their jobs final fall had been unionized staff (some workers in senior positions had been reassigned elsewhere in USA Right now). The connection between Gannett and Reviewed was contentious: employees had beforehand walked off the job after they had 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 to undermine and substitute 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 instructed The Verge in an announcement.
