Picture this. It's the year 2022. You
just posted an honest review about a product and then over the next few
weeks, your video gets taken down. You get constantly harassed by bots and then
on top of that, the company that made the product threatens to sue you. Sounds
pretty unbelievable and dystopian, right? Yep, sure does. And for
HouseFresh, a small independent review site dedicated to testing air purifiers,
it's a reality right now. Within a month
of their video review of the Puro Air 240 being posted, they got an anonymous
tip that their review had been put forward as evidence in a pending lawsuit
against Puro Air. Shortly afterward, YouTube pulled down their video and a
legal letter hit their inbox requesting that HouseFresh amends their earlier
written review threatening that failing to do so would result in HouseFresh
being taken to court for defamation. Right around this same time, House
posted an outstanding article that we actually discussed on the WAN Show
explaining how Google is killing independent sites like theirs. So, what
is going on here and who is to blame? Is it YouTube for attacking whistleblowers?
Does Piro Air have any legal ground to stand on here? It turns out that this
rabbit hole is a deep one, including lucrative affiliate deals, Google's
algorithm being abused to suppress real reviews, and even a big Chinese company
that is attempting to prevent shipments of Puroair's units that has led our two
players here into a big misunderstanding because we reached out to Pure for
comment. And oh boy, did that raise way more questions than answers. So, it's
time to strap in and dig deep. And who better to help me than there he is,
Danny from HouseFresh. These guys might face more legal complaints for being
here. Sorry about that. But they agreed to travel all the way here and share
their story to help educate consumers and hopefully give other independent
reviewers the benefit of their experience fighting this battle. But
first, I need to battle this segue to
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HouseFresh originally took an interest in the Pure Air240 because the brand
that made it appeared out of seemingly nowhere and yet somehow it was one of
the best selling air purifiers on Amazon in 2023. Their review of it was pretty
normal. They discussed that while the product seemed to work fine, it was an
awful value when it was sold at $220 because as it turned out, you could find
some pretty similar looking devices on Alibaba for around 35 bucks. Well, 4
days later, perhaps coincidentally, their video got bombarded with dislikes
and comments that appeared to originate from Russia, a country that had rarely
shown up on their analytics in the past. When we saw the traffic from Russia, we
didn't really understand why because we always publish our reviews in English.
And the down votes just didn't stop. Every day it was 10 down votes. 10 down
votes. And it just carried on. The next development was the anonymous tip that
House Fresh's review had been put forward as evidence in a class action
lawsuit against Puroair in California.
That was followed 2 days later by the removal of their video from YouTube for
quote counterfeit policy violation. And
then three days after that, they received an email from Puroair's lawyers
requesting that HouseFresh amends or remove statements from their written
review. When HouseFresh failed to amend the review, high five, by the way,
Piroair's lawyers sent them a pre-action protocol letter, which is the first step
toward filing a defamation suit. Almost immediately, things went from bad to
worse. One week after they responded to Pureaware, HouseFresh received a DMCA
removal notice and Google preemptively pulled their written review from their
index. What that means is even if you went out of your way to search Puroair
240 househ, it would not show up in your
search results. When we first saw that DMCA notice, that's when we started to
worry because YouTube is meant to be our plan B after our site was decimated in
Google search. So, the DMCA rules mean that anyone can make a complaint to
Google and if it matches the automated system, the page is taken out of the
search and you have to make an appeal to
have a human look at it, but it takes at least a couple of days for someone to
look at it. Because the system is automated, you can actually hire people
for less than $10 to get any page removed. Our critical review couldn't be
found in Google anymore, and this was a battle we were already dealing with in
the SEO competition. Obviously, that's a
lot to digest and it raises so many questions. Who the heck is Pureaware and
why did Google take the video down and then shadowban a perfectly normal
product review? Let's start with the first part. Pureware and their 240 unit,
which I happen to have right here with me. But since I personally know very
little about what makes an air purifier good or bad, Danny will be helping me.
Oh, he brought the very similar one that
can be purchased factory direct from China. So, oh, we're each going to tear
down one of these with a focus on their differences and uh maybe more
importantly their uh similarities. Step one, hold on, hold on. Step one.
Oh. Oh, no. I think Pure's got a case here, man. That's a completely different
sized outer carton. Breathe with confidence. 99.99%
efficiency. See, I bet you don't have that. I don't have anything. Look at that. You got none here. I'll fix that
for you. Here, hold on. I got you. I got you.
Problems brand air purifier. It's got 99. Fun fact, by the way, this HEPA 14,
that's removed from their website and the Amazon listing. Oh, really? But the
99.99% that's still there? I think that's still there. Oh, okay. Wow.
That's That's 50%. They get 99.99%
50% of the time. This is something I jumped on a call and chatted with
Puroair about both the verification of the HEPA 14 claim, but also why they
removed it from their website. They mentioned that they were actually battling lawsuits and FTC claims done by
a very dominant Chinese competitor, one that often challenges several of Piro's
claims. And because of these claims, they found that from a marketing
perspective, they saw no real benefit from fighting a possibly expensive case
for a term that didn't seem to impact their sales. It kind of does call into
question if they were even using HEPA 14 filters in the first place since all
they should need to do is show their certification for any filter that uses
it. But we kind of know how well the legal system works. So, and it might
seem weird that I add this note here, but I'll be back later to explain a bit
more about why this Chinese competitor actually plays a much bigger role in
this than you might think. Well, you've got BKJ23A
and I got BKJ 23A the second. Oh, well,
that's completely different than But I'm sure I have stuff that you don't. Look,
I get $15 off HEPA 14 filters, not to
mention a 2-year limited warranty and user manual. Yeah, I don't have Yeah.
What do you get? You get nothing. Yeah, you really did though. Get absolutely no
manual or anything. No, sadly not. No, no, nothing. So, the Chinese factory
just assumes you're smart enough to figure it out. Oh, I've got some Chinese
words. Oh, yeah. On the bag. Well, that's that says uh do not put over your
head and try to breathe. Oh, wait. Hey, look at that. Yeah, that's totally
different. Mine's black. Yeah, this is white. And mine has the perforations at
the bottom and yours has them at the top. No, it's just upside down.
I can see why you guys thought it might be similar. Oh, well, mine has a sticker
here. Tip it over. I want to I want to have a look here. I want to have a look here. Okay, so we've got a little
honeycomb thing like the sensor. And this is really interesting. There's a
little bit of a flaw in the mold where the plastic flows around these holes.
And you can actually see that it's the same on both of these units. So, not
only is the design extraordinarily similar, they clearly come out of the
exact same mold. And there would be no
reason for two factories to shoot plastics into the same mold, allegedly.
Thank you. Now we're looking at the bottom. See any similarities?
Yeah, it seems like the Yeah, the same design basically and the same foot like
the little feet. Ah, yes. You say that,
but can yours do this?
Right. Okay. Well, okay. So, they are both packaged in plastic. Yeah. so that
they don't get used in the fac like in the warehouse. But tell me this, Danny,
if that is your real name. Sounds made up to me. Does yours say pioware on it?
No. No. Nothing. Huh. Otherwise, it looks the same, doesn't it? I just found
a difference. This piece right here uses a different mold on these two units.
Wait, no, it probably doesn't. It's probably a large mold that they shoot
plastic into and it makes multiple pieces. So it would be a one in two or a
one in three or a one in four chance of getting the exact same piece. So yeah,
that doesn't prove anything. So we should have bought eight then. Yeah, we should have bought even more. Wait, how
many of these did we buy? You can talk to accounting.
Oh, this has an open unauthorized seal.
No guarantee. Yeah. So one of the things they probably don't want you to see is
that in their original marketing they said they asked scientists from MIT and
Harvard to design it. Oh, so they don't want us to get their technology
potentially. Well, I would like to see their technology. Where's my screwdriver
at? These molds are slightly different, too. Actually, we've got the P13. I
don't know if that this one hasn't got it written on it. And this one has like a bit of texture there. I'm getting very
curious about why they clearly use the
exact same molds for some parts and why they use different molds for others.
These ones use the exact same mold. I'm looking for little imperfections. Like
there's a little blemish right here and that blemish is on this one, too. So,
these are the exact same mold, but these ones are not bizarre. Actually, here's a
theory. This is an early version of the handle for our Noctua edition
screwdriver. And you can see there's kind of some swirls. So, when you add
dye to the plastics, even if you're using the same plastic, it can change
the flow characteristics of it a little bit. And also, different colors will
show these kinds of lines more or less than others. Microsoft discovered this
the hard way when they released a white version of the Xbox Series X. They
actually had to completely redesign the mold in order to do that because the
black version hid them, but the white version was covered in little whirls and
little marks. Anyway, my point is that could be a reason why they would use a
different mold for some parts on one versus the other, depending on how it
flows. With that said, they don't seem to care that much about their mold
quality anyway. So, allegedly, okay, now that's going to tell us a lot once Danny
catches up to me here and makes his way to this control PCB. Oh my goodness. How
many screws does this take? Ah. Oh my god. It really does look the same,
doesn't it? So, I'm clear. These guys got mad at you for saying that this and
this are seem to be the same thing. Yeah. Allegedly. Allegedly. Allegedly. I
mean, they're the same thing down to the like off-kilter mounting of this
resistor. Okay. But these are going to be totally different. 20 BJ 238.
Mhm. Yeah. Oh, no. That is different. Mine has a totally different QC date.
Yeah. QC is different. So, actually, I don't even know if that's a date. What
What date code would 66 be? Evil one.
Well, there's only one reasonable conclusion. After Piroair did all of
that MIT research, this Chinese factory
copied them. That's probably why we got a video removed. Then, seriously,
obviously, this is not how you guys would test an air purifier, right? Just
like ripping it apart immediately. So, how do you test them and make sure that
this is HEA or not HEPA or activated charcoal or, you know, whatever? How do
you tell if it's good? Well, the main thing is just using it. So, we fill our
test room in our home with incense smoke. We fill it up for 30 minutes and
then we track it with a purple air sensor that tracks the level of PM1,
2.5, and 10 and then see how quickly it
takes to to remove it because that's the main reason why you would get an air purifier to see how quick it can remove
these tiny particles from the air. Right. So, it's like a dehippifier
sort of device for your space. Yeah, I suppose. So, sure. Right. And that is
definitely the kind of review that you would want to see when you Google pure
rare 240 reviews. So why did Google pull
it? So it might look like there's loads and loads of websites, but it's actually
16 companies that dominate the vast majority of search terms that people
search for. That's why you see the same images and even the same recommendations
from different publications owned by the same company. And HouseFresh has more on
their hands these days than just the legal battle with Pureaware. They're
also fighting a search engine battle. Even before their review was removed
from Google's index, they discovered that search terms like best air
purifier, which used to drive significant traffic to their site, just
bring up garbage top 10 air purifiers
articles now. And these are often written by people or AIs that have never
tested or even touched the products that they're recommending. Oh, fun fact, by
the way. I got bamboozled into buying incompatible windshield wiper blades for
my car by just such a list. But Lionus,
you should have known better, right? Well, not necessarily. See, many of the
publishing companies behind these listicles will go out and acquire
trusted websites, ones that Google favors over lesserk known sites. Then
they'll immediately make cuts to expensive things like, you know, product
testing and writers. And then they'll use that brand and profit off of it
until it becomes worthless. Then they move on to the next one. Wait, profit?
Profit? How? Well, these listical sites have affiliate links, the exact same
kind that you would find in the description of our videos. In fact, there's one there right now. You click
our link to private internet access, sign up for a VPN that will mask all of
your uh Linux ISO downloads, and LT gets
a commission. Well, there's nothing inherently wrong with that. But how a
website goes about it can dramatically impact the user experience. On
HouseFresh's page, for instance, they give their honest review, which might
include a recommendation, but often doesn't, and they say, "Hey, if having
heard all of that, you still want to buy it. Here's the link." Well, if you've
ever scrolled through a top 10 listicle, you'll know it goes more like this. Buy
this, please. Buy this one. Buy this, guys. Use my link. These pushy sales
tactics are just the tip of the iceberg, though. According to Househresh,
commissions in the air purifier category are generally around 3%. But in
Puroair's case, they are much higher. How high are they? Wait
percent. If I was an unscrupulous AI listical mill, I would be very
interested in percent commission on a $230 product. But come on, minus. You
might say, people are going to see that high price and just buy something else
on the list, right? Well, you'd think that, but what if everyone was
complicit? What if every item in the damn listicle was selected purely to
maximize commission rather than to maximize air purity? Now, you see the
problem. And you've got to consider the category of product, too. People who are
passionate about blenders, for instance, might immediately know that some random
brand isn't worth it when they can just get a Vitamix at Costco for 400 bucks.
But like, who's passionate about air purifiers? me.
Exactly. So, by strategically selling products in low passion categories,
these brands can mostly stay under the radar of enthusiasts and reviewers and
their high prices can actually create a perception of value for the uninformed
consumer. Then they leverage that perceived brand value and they discount
it creating a perception of savings and a sense of urgency to buy. That is the
playbook that Puriair used to rocket to number one on Amazon. Lucrative
affiliate deals drive recommendations which drive profits which drive
affiliate deals and money printing machine go.
And while yes, it's easy to shame Pure Air since this is the company that has
sued a reviewer. But they are far from the only company that might try these
tactics in order to climb up the rankings ladder. And there's also
nothing inherently wrong with using an offshore factory in order to manufacture
a product for the western market. But using the markup that you make as a way
to leverage your position in the review space, that is not okay. Now you've got
the full picture. Pureaware buys cheap products, sells them at a big markup,
and then leverages their cash to go after negative reviewers with fake
counterfeiting complaints. Luckily, HouseFresh had insurance that helped to
cover some of their legal fees, but they aren't out of the woods yet. Just when
they thought this saga was over, they received notice that their insurance
provider will not renew their coverage if they continue doing reviews. Well,
continue doing they're a reviewer. So, what does that mean? Because this is now
deemed high- risk, our insurance company won't provide us coverage. But we're not
going to stop doing reviews because I think it's important that there's independent voices like ours telling
consumers what works and what doesn't. The good news is there's no legal active
case for the Puro Air240 review, but we're still talking to our lawyers just
in case, which is great. But the thing to remember here is that Purawware and
HouseFresh are just small players in a much bigger game. This impacts everyone.
Even if HouseFresh can get insurance, what can they do about bot brigading or
video takedowns? It's no secret that YouTube's copyright system has been open
for abuse for years. And in many cases,
it takes more time and resources to fight these things than it ends up being
worth, unless you just really care about
air purification. Since we want to continue reviewing air purifiers, we
wanted to review the larger Puro Air 400. But when we sent over questions
that we had, we received an email from their lawyers. Really?
After everything that happened, HouseFresh still contacted Pureawware
about their new device, as they should. And Pureware, apparently, having learned
nothing, basically threatened them again, saying, "Stop with your fixation
with Puro Air." Oh, did we reach out to Pureware for this? Yes. Oh, and we're
currently in talks with them. We are in talks. What does that even mean? I'll give an update now. After I jumped on a
call with two higherups, including the CEO at Pureware, I don't necessarily
think that they are the devil in disguise or anything. It's clear that
they just found a way to play the system and gain some ground. But I think many
people would do the same thing if they could. But why does it seem like they
have such a chip on their shoulder for HouseFresh? Well, you remember how I mentioned a Chinese competitor earlier?
It turns out that Purer has been battling a company called Lavoy, a
company that makes a variety of home products, including air purifiers. Lavoy
has opened court cases, FTC investigations, and even managed to hold
cargo shipments at ports against Pureair
in order to prevent them from entering the Western market. And from Pure's
perspective, the timing of Dany's negative review about the 240 unit,
along with HouseFresh's positive reviews of some Lavoy units made them suspicious
that Houserfresh is simply just another attack vector. Puro Air still seems
convinced that Houserfresh is in bed with Lavoy. So, we asked Danny to clear
the air and he said, quote, "We have as much of a relationship with Lavoy as we
do with Winx, Coway, Smart Air, Xiai,
Dyson, and many other brands. We have even asked Pure Air to present proof of
this in multiple legal communications, and they never did because there is no
proof. It would be like saying that LT is funded by NVIDIA because we reviewed
their graphics cards." Ouch. Danny must read our subreddit. Anyways, none of
that changes the fact that they tried to sue a reviewer. It doesn't matter if
they think it was an attack from a bigger player. And while we never found
solid evidence about who sent the bot brigades and even the DMCA takedown,
that is also not okay for any company to do or abuse. And I think there's some
learnables for YouTube here as well. Any system where you can hire someone as
cheap as 10 bucks to take down a video
is a broken system. So, what's the conclusion here then? Well, the good
news is that there is a happy ending to the Househresh story, which we're going
to get into in a bit. But the bad news is that this whole listical affiliate
thing is still 100% a problem. And the
only solution to it is slow, painstaking, one person at a time
education. So, if you have someone in your life that you know trusts these
listical websites, grab a share link to this timestamp to help them identify a
real review versus a clickbait list. Step one. Hey, it's okay to use these
listicles, especially for inspiration, but you should always search up the
individual model numbers somewhere else before you buy, like on Reddit or on
YouTube. Also, you're going to want to read or watch more than one review.
Ideally, more than five. Because the thing is, user reviews can be
manipulated, and media reviews can be manipulated, but it takes a pretty
well-coordinated effort to manipulate everything and bury every negative take
on your product. Step two, look at how hard they're shilling. This might sound
obvious, but if they're pushing the purchase button in front of you before
you've even had a chance to read a single word about the product, maybe
it's time to find someone else who looked into it. A great way to know if
someone has really put in the work is to see if they took their own photos or
collected their own comparative data rather than just listing manufacturer
specs. Finally, step three, do a quick sanity check on who wrote the article.
If it's someone, ideally a real person,
who has built a career on consumer trust and verified testing, I can almost
guarantee you that they'll do a better job than some anonymous entity on a
website that reviews everything on planet Earth. So, the happy ending for
Houser Rush, then it seems like for now
they're out of the woods. We're going to have their channel and their Patreon linked down below, by the way, so you
guys can go and support them. Thanks for listening to us. And if you want to find
out more about HouseFresh, you can now use Google to find us. No one, no matter
how big or how small, should be allowed to be shoved around for speaking the
truth if they're putting in the work to back it up. But what I will shove you
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