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All business owners know customers will have different experiences with their company. Whilst all UK companies aim to please every consumer, some individuals inevitably find fault with a business. Accordingly, it is becoming increasingly common for customers to post their dissatisfaction online in this digital age. This article will explore your legal obligations regarding negative online reviews against your UK business. In particular, it will inform you of when and how you can directly act against certain types of negative reviews.
Negative Reviews vs Disingenuous Reviews
Our starting point is that a UK business cannot ban or block online customer reviews simply because they are not complimentary. Some customers will have genuinely held concerns about your company’s products or services; in the UK, you cannot simply erase them from existence.
Uk laws protect the right to free speech, so if an individual has published a genuine and honest opinion about a product or service, there is no legal recourse against it. This remains the case even if a viewpoint is a matter of opinion rather than fact. Therefore, each individual is as legally entitled to their view as your company is to its own.
However, UK law (and some internet providers) draw a line between ‘genuine’ reviews and ‘disingenuous’ or defamatory reviews. In this way, whilst your organisation is unlikely to remove genuinely held negative online reviews, it may be able to take action against false negative comments. Alternatively, you may consider raising the possibility of legal action against false negative comments in your website’s Terms of Use.
What is a Disingenuous or Defamatory Review?
UK law will seek to protect UK organisations from false or misleading reviews. What are false or fake reviews? Examples of these can include online reviews which:
- make false statements (such as leaving a negative review of a product or service without having purchased it);
- make misleading statements about the products or services (such as leaving a TripAdvisor review of a hotel stating that the hotel staff forced them to leave when, in fact, they were arrested by the police); or
- intentionally make defamatory comments about your company (such as leaving a one-star review for a product because they are an ex-employee who was treated poorly).
All of these reviews can cause damage to a business by putting off future potential customers. After all, most consumers looking to book a nice hotel would pick the one with the average 91% positive rating rather than a similarly priced one with just 68%.
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What Can My Business Do About Defamatory Reviews?
If your company believes that an online review is not truthful and is dishonest (or motivated by alternative reasons), it can consider a defamation action against the author. However, such actions can only win with a strong case. This is because UK courts seek to protect freedom of expression, particularly in cases between a business and an individual.
Alternatives to Starting a Defamation Action
Often, a UK company will ask the hosting company, for example, yell.com, Google Reviews or TripAdvisor, to remove the offending review. These websites have forms asking for specific evidence of why it is dishonest or false.
Most organisations’ first port of call is to ask the website to remove the review because it is usually cheap, quick and effective. If the website hosting the review refuses to remove it, it is possible to ask the actual author of the review (who has the power to remove it) to delist it. If they refuse, your business could ask a lawyer to send them a letter threatening formal defamation action against them if they decline.
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Key Takeaways
Most UK businesses deal with negative online reviews through review sites or social media platforms. However, UK law distinguishes between truthfully negative reviews and intentionally malicious and misleading statements. With the latter, your business may consider appropriate contact with the hosting website and author by email and letter.
If the review is highly defamatory and causes substantial financial loss, you may threaten and bring a formal defamation action against the author. However, given the cost of doing so and the difficulty of winning such actions, most UK companies will only do so where the review is causing extreme financial detriment.
If you need help tackling negative online reviews against your business, our experienced e-commerce and online business lawyers can assist as part of our LegalVision membership. For a low monthly fee, you will have unlimited access to lawyers to answer your questions and draft and review your documents. Call us today on 0808 196 8584 or visit our membership page.
Frequently Asked Questions
While exploring ways to remove defamatory reviews is a good idea, most businesses will take a financial cost-benefit analysis of negative feedback. Unless fake negative reviews are causing substantial harm to a company’s online reputation or bottom line, they are unlikely to pursue formal legal action.
Most UK companies will avoid this tactic because it is unlawful and risks legal action against the company. In short, it is not worth the risk, and most businesses will trust their loyal customers to return regardless of the odd bad online review.
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