One of the biggest misconceptions is the extent to which a business can remove or prevent negative reviews. The other day, I saw a colleague’s post about a development program that upset them. They chose to ask people to leave negative reviews on their Google Business Profile (GBP). I advised them that their review and other reviews violate the TOS.
Google forbids the use of Google reviews that don’t pertain to a real experience with the business. To review a business, you needed to either want to conduct business with them or have interacted with them. I left a negative review becuase the business I went to wasn’t open for 30 minutes after their posted open hours. I had every intention to conduct business with the business in question.
I advised my friend that they were perfectly fine with talking about it on social media or writing a blog post about the project. What they are not allowed to do is leave a review on the business’s GBP. My friend replied and said that if Google took issue with their review, Google could remove it.
When does Google remove reviews?
Before I answer this, allow me to give you a history lesson. There have been some high-profile review attack cases. The biggest is The Law Offices of Aaron M Schlossberg. Aaron went viral in May 2018 after he was recorded by a cell phone telling women to speak English. The outrage was severe. Protestors showed up on the street outside his office. People hired a mariachi band. His GBP recieved countless malicious edits that updated the name, category, and business hours. The GBP recieved countless 1-star reviews and pictures of urinals, dildos, Mexican food, and images of poop. The GBP team had to clean up the GBP. I believe that this incident was the catalyst for what Google did next. The following month, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, who was President Trump’s Press Secretary, posted on social media that she was asked to leave The Red Hen restaurant. Google quickly locked the profile to prevent edits and new reviews. Google also removed the reviews connected to the incident. I dubbed this the “Red Hen Protocol.”
A few hours after my friend and I had this discussion online, I came across this Reddit thread. The op stated that they had edited their review 10 times, and each time, Google wouldn’t allow it to be posted. They wondered if the business had an agreement to stop negative reviews. The business in question had made the news over its new policy on disability passes. Somehow, Google caught wind of the coverage and began removing and blocking reviews associated with it.
Businesses don’t have deals in place to prevent or remove negative reviews. Businesses can flag reviews using this tool. If the review violates the TOS, it can be removed. If a business goes viral, Google has mechanisms in place to prevent negative reviews from being posted.
