Reviews can be an extremely powerful tool in building your business reputation. However, it can be shocking when you see that a consumer has left a bad review.
It may be even more stressful to see reviews that you know to be false. As a business owner, you know that bad and false reviews can harm your businesses reputation. But, do not worry. There are laws in place to protect your business against these bad and false reviews. So, let’s get into it.
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What is a Bad Review?
Bad reviews may be any sort of review that could negatively impact your businesses reputation. The bad review may relate to your businesses product, service, customer case and many other aspects of business. In general, a consumer will only post a bad review once they have used your goods or services, so it is important to ensure that any information and advertisements surrounding your businesses goods or services are accurate and truthful. This will minimise consumers becoming disgruntled about the quality or usages of your goods or services.
Can I remove Bad Reviews?
Now, if the bad review is a consumers honest opinion, then there is little you can do as each and every consumer is entitled to express their opinions. According to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), removing and editing bad reviews may be illegal. This is because when a business edits or removes bad reviews, they are intentionally misleading or deceiving their consumers. Thus, when the totality of reviews does not reflect the genuine opinions of the consumers who use, experience or interact with the business, the business may be breaching laws surrounding misleading or deceptive conduct.
An important step that business can take is to identify whether the review was a genuine review, or fake review. If it is a genuine review, you may consider getting in contact with the reviewer to determine why they were so unsatisfied with your businesses service or product. You may consider implementing a Compliant Policy. Your Complaint Policy can help your business manage and process consumer complaints as an alternative solution to consumers leaving bad reviews.
If the bad review comes from an anonymous user, it may actually be a false or fake review. We will delve into the rules and regulations surrounding false and fake reviews below.
What is a Fake Review?
Fake reviews generally come in two forms: (1) positive fake reviews and, (2) negative fake reviews. Both forms of fake reviews may be misleading and deceptive and thus not Australian Consumer Law compliant. According to the ACCC, ‘positive fake reviews’ may breach Australian Consumer Laws. These include reviews written by:
- Family or friends, without their relationship/connection to your business being disclosed,
- Paid reviewers or solicitor reviewers, who have not used the product or service,
- Someone who has used the product or service, but has received an undisclosed financial or non-financial benefit.
Now, soliciting reviewers or paying reviews can be misleading or deceptive, but this is not always the case. These are circumstances in which a business may legally pay a consumer to write a review. However, the incentive or pay must be offered to all consumers, cannot be dependant on whether the review is positive or negative, and must be disclosed to other users who rely on the incentivised review.
But, what about ‘negative fake reviews’? As noted above, a negative fake review may be a bad, defamatory or offensive review left by an anonymous consumer. Unfortunately, these types of reviews do come up every now and then. The only objective of a negative fake review is to harm the businesses growth and reputation. However, there are legal actions you can take against these negative fake reviews.
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Can I remove Fake Reviews?
The ACCC encourages that businesses remove any sort of fake review from their website or third-party platforms, such as Yelp, Google, Amazon, Facebook, Instagram etc. In fact, it can be illegal to refrain from removing them. This is especially so for positive fake reviews. Click the link for more information on fake reviews on third-party platforms.
Regarding positive fake reviews, it is the businesses responsibility to refrain from engaging in this misleading conduct. The business should actively delete any misleading positive review, so to avoid any penalties or fines from breaching Australian Consumer Laws.
Regarding negative fake reviews, the ACCC does allow businesses to remove any reviews that are fake, offensive or defamatory. If the review is on a third-party platform, it’s best to contact the platform and request its removal. If the negative fake review has impacted your businesses revenue, you may wish to bring a claim for defamation against the reviewer. It should be noted that a claim for defamation may be time consuming, costly and difficult to prove. Alternatively, you may seek to file a complaint with the ACCC.
Key Takeaways
Bad and false reviews can be detrimental to your business reputation and financial growth. However, it is important that you identify what type of bad and false review you are dealing with before taking any sort of action. Generally, if the review is genuine, even though it may be damaging, a business cannot remove, or request the removal, of the review. However, a review that is fake, offensive or defamatory may be (1) removed, (2) complained of to the ACCC, or (3) legal action may be taken. It is extremely important that businesses do not engage in writing or soliciting their own ‘positive fake reviews’, as this can pose legal consequences and possible penalties against your business.
