How can you remove a defamatory online review?🥊

We’ve seen it all—from five-star reviews that make a business shine to one-star reviews that are so bad they can make an owner’s blood boil.

But sometimes, a review isn’t just negative. Sometimes, it’s a lie. It’s a made-up story designed to harm your business. When that happens, you need to know that you have options. It’s not about just hoping it goes away. You can and should fight back.

I get this question all the time from business owners: “Linda, this person never came to my store. Can I get that review taken down?” The answer isn’t always simple, but it is important. There is a big difference between an unhappy customer sharing their opinion and someone making up a story to hurt your business. Knowing that difference is the key to protecting your reputation, and it’s exactly why we created our specialized review remohttps://businesssolutionsmarketinggroup.com/services/review-removal-service/val service.

We need to talk about what makes a review a lie, what your legal rights are, and how you can get that review removed for good.

Is That Review a Lie? Understanding Defamation

Before you can take legal action against a review, you have to understand a few key things. The law has very specific rules about what makes a statement a defamatory review.

Here’s the simple way to think about it:

Rule #1: It must be a lie. This is the most important part. The review has to contain a false statement of fact. If a customer says, “The coffee here tastes terrible,” that’s an opinion. You can’t prove that in court. But if they say, “The coffee shop owner stole my wallet,” that is a statement of fact. If it’s not true, it’s a lie.
Rule #2: It must be seen by others. The lie has to be “published” to a third party. An online review is a perfect example of this, as it’s seen by anyone who looks up your business.
Rule #3: It must hurt your business. The lie has to cause some kind of harm, like losing customers or sales.

These three rules are the building blocks of a defamation case. The law sees it this way: a customer has a right to their opinion, even if it’s a negative one. The Consumer Review Fairness Act protects a customer’s right to post an honest review. But their right to free speech does not give them the right to lie about you to hurt your business.

A business’s reputation is everything. According to a recent study, 93% of consumers say they read online reviews before they buy something. Another stat you might not hear every day is that trust in a business can drop by 67% when its average rating goes from 4 stars down to 3. That one or two bad reviews can really do some damage.

What’s the Difference Between Libel and Slander?

You’ve probably heard these words on TV shows, but they have a very clear meaning in law. They are both types of defamation.

Slander is when a lie is spoken out loud.
Libel is when a lie is written down.

Since we are talking about online reviews, which are written on a website, they are almost always a form of libel. A defamatory review is really an act of online libel. This is an important distinction for your lawyer to know if you decide to take legal action.

One of the big reasons it can be hard to win these cases is that you have to prove that the statement was not just negative, but a provable lie. This is where an experienced lawyer and a smart business owner work together. You have to prove the review’s claims are false. For example, if a review says “The restaurant failed a health inspection,” you can pull a public health department record to prove that is a lie.

Can We Get a Defamatory Review Taken Down? A Look at Our Service

Yes. Our review removal service is specifically designed for these situations. We are about 50% likely to remove negative reviews from Google, and we’re very upfront about that. The law on this is tricky, and we don’t want to give you false hope. But here’s the best part: our clients don’t pay anything until the review is actually removed. This means there is no risk to you if we are unsuccessful.

Key Takeaways from an Expert:

This is a complicated area of law, and many business owners don’t know where to start. Here are the main things I want you to remember from our ten years in this business:

A Lie is Actionable: A review crosses the line when it is a verifiably false statement of fact that harms your business. An opinion, even a harsh one, is not defamation.
Don’t Overreact: Not all negative reviews are illegal. A simple negative review should be handled with a professional response. We can help you with this through our reputation management services.
The Law Is On Your Side (With a Catch): The law protects you from defamatory lies, but you need an expert to help you get the court order that will lead to a review being removed. This takes ALOT of time and ALOT of money.
Pay for Results: Our service is built on a pay-for-performance model. You only pay if we are successful.

At Business Solutions Marketing Group, we believe that your reputation is your most valuable asset. We’ve been helping business owners with reputation management for over a decade, and we can help you with everything from getting more positive reviews to removing defamatory lies. If you’re dealing with a bad review that you think is illegal, don’t just sit there. The clock is ticking on your reputation.

For more information on how our specialized review removal service can help you, visit us at https://businesssolutionsmarketinggroup.com/services/review-removal-service/.

GBP LInk – https://g.co/kgs/GR8yH4a