Today, Tuesday, December 2nd, 2025, I came across this thread on Reddit. Apparently, a coffee shop, Coca Smoocha in Vietnam, had 36 Google reviews removed. Google emailed the business advising that the system had identified fake or paid reviews. Google advised the business that if more fake or paid reviews are detected, Google may apply restrictions.
Back in June 2025, Google advised City Farm Rosalinda that reviews had been removed and that they were being restricted. The business not only recieved a consumer warning, but they were also unable to receive any new reviews for 30 days.
I have seen several threads and posts about reviews being removed in the past few weeks. Google has been removing reviews. I wonder if any of these businesses recieved one of the above warnings? Did any of the impacted businesses lose the ability to receive any new reviews? I wonder what the criteria are? Is it based on the number of reviews, the period of time the reviews were left, or the category?
Regardless of what Google is doing to combat fake or paid reviews, not enough is being done. I am monitoring countless businesses and industries known for having fake reviews, and they continue to abuse the system. I know of a few law firms that had their hands slapped and stopped. Will Google get better at detection and enforcement? I doubt it.
