By Whitney C. Gibson
If you are searching for information about a local business, chances are you might go to Yelp.com or stumble upon Yelp reviews in a search about a business. Yelp is home to 57 million reviews and attracts 132 million monthly visitors, according to data released through March 31, 2014.
By all means, Yelp is an overall great resource for consumers. However, I have seen many businesses and individuals harmed by third party users on the Yelp. While most reviews are legitimate, whether positive or negative, people and businesses are regularly being disparaged in false reviews posted to the online review site.
Thus, it is important for businesses and business owners to know how to handle potential online reputation attacks, whether that involves legal steps or handling matters on Yelp.com itself.
The importance and impact of online reviews
In its annual survey, released in early July 2014, BrightLocal reported that 88% of its 2,104 survey respondents (90% Americans, 10% Canadians) said they trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations. In this same survey, 67% of consumers said they read up to six reviews about a business.
If most consumers trust reviews and two-thirds of them are satisfied after reading several reviews, it is easy to imagine the impact of a false and defamatory review. Add in the fact that Yelp has a “94” domain authority rating out of 100, according to Open Site Explorer, which means a harmful review is likely to be visible due to Yelp’s high ranking search results.
In fact, an Austin, Texas-based law firm recently filed a lawsuit against an ex-client relating to a 1-star review. While it is unclear whether the review is false, it is presently the firm’s only Yelp rating, and the Yelp listing is the firm’s #1 search result on Google. Thus, when anyone presently searches for the law firm, the top result he or she will find, displays a 1-star rating, and clicking the link reveals a harsh review (temporarily putting aside the possibility that the review could, in fact, be accurate).
The point is, while much of what is written about your business may be fair and legitimate, all it takes is one disparaging post written or orchestrated by a disgruntled person to significantly harm your business. And to be clear, there is an important distinction between a negative review rooted in truth and a review that it is harmful because it is actually comprised of false and disparaging statements.
Yelp’s policies
Fortunately, Yelp does not tolerate defamatory content. On its “FAQ” page, Yelp warns uses of potential legal consequences for posting false information, while hyperlinking to the Wikipedia entry for “libel.” Similarly, in its Terms of Service, Yelp warns users of exposing themselves to liability for content such as defamatory reviews.
However, the burden is on the victim of a harmful review to take action and/or demonstrate that a review about them is defamatory. A pending Virginia case involving alleged fake reviews from non-customers about Hadeed Carpet Cleaning, which has gone all the way up to the Supreme Court of Virginia, is a perfect example.
For context, anyone seeking to take legal action in the United States in response to harmful online content should go after the author or poster, not the third party website hosting the content. Accordingly, when the identity of the attacker is unknown and an attorney files a lawsuit and issues a subpoena to Yelp, seeking disclosure of an author’s identifying information, Yelp will require a showing that the posts are false and defamatory.
In the pending Virginia case, Yelp did not believe Mr. Hadeed satisfied its standards, although the lower courts disagreed; hence Yelp appealing to the state’s top court.
Responding to harmful reviews
Yelp also states in the “FAQ” section that its support team can remove reviews that violate the website’s Content Guidelines or Terms of Service (emphasis added). While Yelp is not required to (and may choose not to unilaterally) remove reviews that violate its Terms and Guidelines, it is possible to demonstrate that a certain review conflicts with their policies and convince them to remove the damaging content.
Another option Yelp offers – which can be used when responding to both actual defamation and legitimate customer complaints – is for business owners to personally respond to a review. Business owners can post a public comment or privately message an author of a review.
Related, an author of a review can easily delete a review by clicking “Remove” at the bottom of his or her post. After speaking with an author on Yelp or offline (including, in the appropriate circumstances, with the assistance of an attorney), the author might be willing to remove a review. After all, in many situations, simply having harmful content erased from the internet can sometimes be enough to make your internet crisis go away.
For a number of reasons, based on both legal and non-legal considerations, in the event of an attack on your business, it is important to act quickly. This does not mean firing off an angry rebuttal, but knowing who to turn to – including, but not limited to, a crisis management professional or an attorney – and then determining the best approach to handle the particular situation.
Whitney Gibson is an attorney in the Cincinnati office of Vorys, Sater, Seymour and Pease LLP. He has experience representing companies and individuals in cases involving Internet issues, including Internet defamation. Whitney works closely with Agnes + Day’s Crisis Intelligence Team. Check out Whitney’s Internet defamation blog, or follow Whitney on Twitter.
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