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If you happen to come across a bad review about your business online, it is only natural to want to remove the review immediately. Reviews can affect the reputation of a business greatly and it can either increase your leads and customers or drive them away in the blink of an eye. While learning how to remove reviews can be useful, you need to be sure first that the review is maliciously done to destroy the credibility of your business. It is also not that simple to have a review removed especially from public review sites such as Google, Yelp, and Yahoo which are protected under the Communications Decency Act.

 Defining Communications Decency Act

Under Section 230 of the Communication Decency Act, websites like Google and Yelp that are “interactive computer services” have immunity from any liability that may arise from publishing information supplied by others. In simpler terms, these websites are not responsible for any material, such as in the case of reviews, no matter how defamatory these may be.

 Finding a Loophole

Given the fact that it is almost impossible to make Google and other similar websites liable for any defamation that may occur at your expense, how do you remove reviews that are obviously fake? One way to go about it is to hire a lawyer to file a lawsuit against the person who made the review. You will need to prove that the review is fake and defamatory to have the court make a ruling in your favor. Once the court makes a ruling that the content of the review is defamatory, you need to provide the website with a copy before they will take any action. Be careful though as lawsuits tend to be publicized and if you do not want to draw any attention to the bad review you received, you might want to try contacting the website publisher and filing a complaint first.

 Alternative Solution

Another option you have if you want to remove reviews is to file a complaint with the webmaster. You can mark the review as spam and fill out a form with your complaint. One drawback to this is you have to have proof that the review is really false. Another problem is that the decision to remove the content depends entirely on the discretion of the publisher. The good news is, if the publisher decides that it is truly fake, the review will immediately be removed and you don’t have to go through the whole legal process that will not only cost you but may also bring unwanted attention to the bad review about your business. 

It can be a good thing to know how to remove reviews about your business but it is equally important to know how to go about it in a legal and civil manner. Not all bad reviews may be untrue so make sure that you differentiate fake ones from those that are real. Getting bad reviews may affect your business but let it encourage you as well to do better in order to gain more positive reviews.

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