False reviews online? What you can do
Online reviews play a major role in building consumer trust these days.
Unfortunately, entrepreneurs are increasingly confronted with fake reviews. These reviews not only come from dissatisfied customers with a grudge against your company, but increasingly also from groups that have never been customers. These groups have even turned it into a business model: they post a negative review and then approach you with the message that they will only remove the review in exchange for payment.
In this article, I will explain what steps you, as an entrepreneur, can take against such practices.
Negative opinion or fake review?
It is important to distinguish between a negative opinion and a fake review. Everyone has the right to freedom of expression and is therefore entitled to give their opinion about a product or service, even if that opinion is negative. However, there is a clear limit to this freedom: it is not permitted to deliberately spread falsehoods.
When deliberately harmful statements are made with the aim of damaging your company’s reputation, or when lies are knowingly spread, this may constitute defamation or slander. These are criminal offences.
In addition, a false review can also have civil law consequences. Posting a false review can be an unlawful act. If this is the case, the court can prohibit the posting of such reviews, possibly on pain of a penalty. As an entrepreneur, you can also recover the damage you have suffered from the person who posted the review.
Anonymous reviews
Although the legal options mentioned above against false reviews sound promising, they are often difficult to implement when a review is posted anonymously or comes from a fake account. In these situations, you are usually dependent on the platform, such as Google or Trustpilot, where the false review was published.
Notice-and-takedown
As an entrepreneur, you have the option of submitting a so-called “notice-and-takedown request” to online platforms. Thanks to the Digital Services Act (DSA), platforms are obliged to offer a transparent, accessible and user-friendly reporting mechanism. This means that, as an entrepreneur, you should be able to easily report false or illegal reviews.
When submitting such a request, it is important that you clearly indicate:
- Why the review is false. Consider, for example, content that is factually incorrect or deliberately damaging to your business.
- Where exactly the review can be found. Include a link or screenshot so that the platform can quickly locate the review.
After you have submitted a report, the platform must assess it carefully, objectively and within a reasonable period of time. If the review is indeed found to be unlawful, the platform must take appropriate measures, such as removing or blocking the review.
If the platform does not cooperate
In practice, it is unfortunately common for platforms to respond slowly or unjustifiably reject requests to remove reviews. This can be very frustrating for you as an entrepreneur, as every day that a misleading or false review remains online can damage your reputation and ultimately your business results.
If a platform does not respond in a timely manner or rejects your request without good reason, it is possible to seek legal action to enforce measures such as the removal of the false review. To do so, you must be able to demonstrate that the review is false and that your interest in protecting the honour and good name of your company outweighs the author’s right to freedom of expression.
In some cases, you can also request the court to oblige the platform to provide information about the author of the review, such as their name and address details or IP address. Whether a court will grant such a claim again depends on a balancing of interests: your interest in being able to take action against the false review and recover damages versus the author’s interest in privacy. It will also be assessed whether there is a less drastic way of obtaining the name and address details. Have you obtained the name and address details? Then you can contact the author of the false review and try to recover your damages.
What can you do right away?
Although there are legal options for getting the false review removed, this can often be time-consuming and costly, especially if you need to seek legal assistance. Fortunately, you can also take immediate steps yourself to limit the damage to your reputation. For example, it is wise to respond to the false review quickly and professionally. The author of the review will probably not be influenced by this, but future customers will be able to see your response and take it into account in their judgement, which may reduce the negative impact of the review.
Questions?
Do you have any questions about this article? Please contact one of our lawyers by email, telephone or fill in the contact form for a no-obligation initial consultation. We are happy to assist you.
