Whether you are a customer who is unsure if leaving a negative review will cause any trouble or you are a business owner who is curious if some reviews can be restricted, we try to provide you all the information on this topic, which is not as clear as it first seems. There is a contradiction between freedom of speech and the right to protect your business, but we try to do our best.
Legal notes
Technically speaking, as long as what you say is either the verifiable truth or entirely your opinion, you cannot be successfully sued or prevented from communicating it. While it is possible for a business to file a lawsuit about comments put online about their business, a product or service, a judge is likely to order the author of the review to take down the comments in question. Such lawsuits are known as SLAPP actions (Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation), and some American states are beginning to pass laws to control this behavior.
Possibilities of restriction
As of now, there is no way anyone can be stopped from providing a review, even if the published comment is offensive. Consumers have the freedom of speech; and businesses have the freedom to sue for it.
Donald Trump, for example, is a serious serial defamation case abuser. He's the POTUS, a public figure, yet he sues anyone who writes anything he doesn't like. Even without being right, Trump wins, because no one enjoys the prospect of a solo defense against a roomful of pro attorneys and practice group leaders.
Defamation is commonly defined as “communication of a false statement that harms another’s reputation.” Many countries have laws against defamation, but they have different concepts. Winning a defamation case is difficult in the United States because the plaintiff must generally prove the defendant made the statement with “actual malice,” i.e. a knowing disregard for the truth.
The US Congress has just passed a bill protecting consumers’ rights to post negative reviews online. Passed by unanimous consent by the Senate, the Consumer Review Fairness Act will make it illegal for businesses to limit a consumer’s right to share a negative review. The hearing on the bill emphasized the 2013 lawsuit Palmer vs. KlearGear, where KlearGear demanded accuser Jen Palmer to remove a negative online review or face a $3,500 fine based on a gag clause on the company’s Terms of Service. She refused to pay the fine or take down her review, so KlearGear sent the $3,500 fine to a collections agency, negatively impacting Palmer’s credit. The bill also protects reviews that aren’t on the Internet, allowing consumers to voice their opinion without fear of being punished.
Possibilities of actions
While the right to post is protected, business owners can delete offensive reviews and comments from their sites. They can also try to reach out to review sites if a review or comment is against a person, a race or ethnicity. If the feedback doesn’t match with the content guideline of the review site, they will be taken down. Or they can reach out in the hope of finding a solution with the unhappy reviewer.
Summary
All in all, a business should learn from these reviews and should avoid just doing their best to erase the negative ones. Even if the review isn’t true, business owners should get in contact with the author and try to work out a mutually beneficial solution, because other consumers will notice a business fighting with someone who just wanted to tell their opinion on a specific product or service.
