Online presence from local businesses is more important than ever as more consumers depend on the internet for information regarding different products and services. Public websites such as Google, Amazon, and Yelp enable users to post a review anonymously which many potential customers find useful when looking for quality products and services. While these reviews can be useful, a major concern is the fact that there are many bogus reviews on the internet as well. Fake reviews mislead consumers into buying something that isn’t really as good as another brand and while companies doing the fake reviews to ruin their competitors enjoy the boost in sales, companies who are on the receiving end of these malicious reviews suffer from the opposite effect.

 Bogus Reviews: Can It Really Affect Your Business?

Going through different product reviews is considered to be a dependable means of sorting out which products and services are worth it and which ones are not. A lot of consumers have access to the internet where just about anything can be found. Having good reviews does not only mean that your business gets better ranking in search engines but it also helps boost sales by attracting people who would be impressed with your good reviews. On the other hand, if you have negative reviews, this can drive away customers from your business and also leave you far from the top listing in search engines. Writing bogus reviews on the internet is a powerful tool that can be used by any company to gain good reputation while destroying their competitor at the same time although this isn’t actually ethical or legal.

 Bogus Reviews: How Can You Fight Back?

If your business has been hurting because of bogus reviews on the internet, the only way you can fight back is to find out who is doing it. If you know who is doing the fake reviews, you can approach the culprit and try to reason with them to stop. If the culprit refuses to stop posting defamatory reviews, then the only path you can take is litigation. If you don’t know who is behind the bogus reviews, then the only thing you can do is file a lawsuit against “John Doe”. After which you need to send a subpoena to the website where the review was posted to find out more information regarding the writer of the review.

 Is the Website Liable as Well?

Under the Communications Decency Act, websites such as Google cannot be held liable for any form of defamation that may take place in their website. They are merely a 3^rd party re-publisher and cannot be held accountable for the actions of the actual publisher. These websites, however, are required to answer to subpoenas given to them under the legal process of law as long as it is properly filed and served to them. They will also be required to comply with the ruling of the court in case the content is found to be defamatory and needs to be deleted from their site.