How to Request the Removal of Reviews on Ekiten

Ekiten is a review site for various types of businesses such as hair salons and hospitals. By accessing the Ekiten site, even if you have never visited a particular store, you can get a feel for the atmosphere of the store and learn about its services by reading the reviews of other users. It seems to be beneficial for the store as well, as it can be used effectively for advertising and can also be expected to attract customers. However, not all reviews are positive. There may be information that is inconvenient for the store, or information that is different from the truth.

In this article, we will explain how to remove malicious reviews posted on Ekiten and how to deal with reputational damage.

What is Ekiten?

Ekiten is Japan’s largest review ranking site for various businesses, operated by Design One Japan Co., Ltd. The businesses listed on the site span a wide range of genres, not only restaurants but also relaxation, hair salons, dental clinics, medical clinics, tutoring schools, lessons, recycling, second-hand buying, delivery services, lifestyle services, pets, housing, real estate, weddings and funerals, gourmet food, outing spots, shopping, and more.

Users can view reviews, rankings, and store information without registering as a member. Also, when making an online reservation, you can use the “First Time Easy Reservation” feature to make your first reservation without registering as a member. Once you register as a member, you can make online reservations and post reviews from the second time onwards. While it is generally necessary to register as a member to post reviews, there are cases where you can post reviews without registering by using the “Review Speed Lottery” distributed by the stores.

What Kind of Reputational Damage Can Occur on Ekiten?

Ekiten is a platform where users can post reviews about businesses they have visited. To ensure credibility, there is a limit to the number of reviews that can be posted (up to 3 per day, or up to 7 per day depending on the category), but there is no verification of whether the reviewer has actually visited the business. Furthermore, according to the review guidelines, the publication criteria do not consider whether the review is convenient for the business. Therefore, there is a possibility that reviews that are disadvantageous to the business may be posted.

False Reviews About Service Content

Since Ekiten does not verify whether the reviewer has actually visited the business, even those who have not actually used the business can freely write reviews. Therefore, there is a risk of false reviews about the service content, such as “Beauty Salon A does not accept male customers”. If this happens, male customers who were considering this beauty salon will cancel their visit. Therefore, there is a risk of losing potential customers due to such false reviews.

Reviews That Damage the Image of the Business

For example, reviews such as “The president of Restaurant B was arrested for tax evasion” or “The director of C Dental Clinic is a psychopath and is having trouble with customers” are a type of malicious review that can damage the reputation of the business. While a review about the president being arrested for tax evasion does not directly affect the customers, it does give a bad image about the operation of the business. On the other hand, if there is a review that the director is a psychopath, it is normal to feel uneasy about the response, so many people will cancel their visit. Either way, these reviews can potentially lead to a decrease in the business’s sales.

How Can Malicious Reviews be Removed?

Request for Deletion Due to Violation of Terms of Use

What can a business do when damaging or incorrect information is posted about them? One possible course of action is to request deletion on the grounds of a violation of the terms of use.

In the Ekiten Terms of Use, Article 10 outlines “Prohibited Posting Matters”. When requesting the deletion of a review based on a violation of the terms of use, it is necessary to specifically point out which of the prohibited posting matters the review falls under.

Prohibited Matter (11) states, “Among those requested by the store, the following apply: ‘I. Posts made without using the services provided by the store'”. Therefore, for clearly false posts like the example “Beauty Salon A does not accept male customers”, which would not be written by someone who has used the store, it is possible to request deletion on the grounds that it falls under Prohibited Matter (11). Additionally, Prohibited Matter (8) targets “Things that do not align with the purpose of this site or are irrelevant”. For a review like “The president of Restaurant B was arrested for tax evasion”, it could be argued that it falls under Prohibited Matter (8) as tax evasion has no direct relation to the services of the store.

Furthermore, for reviews like “The director of C Dental Clinic is a psychopath and is causing trouble with customers”, it can be said that they fall under Prohibited Matter (4), “Matters related to complaints or troubles with the store”.

As for how to request the deletion of a review from the site operator, on Ekiten, there is a “Report Violation” button at the bottom right of each review. By clicking this, you can contact them through the inquiry form that appears. Also, on the user page’s reviews, there is a “Contact about problematic review” button for each review, which also leads to the inquiry form.

Removal Requests Due to Illegal Activities

Depending on the content of a review, the post itself may constitute an illegal act. The most common illegal act is defamation, which occurs when a review is posted that damages a person’s social reputation. Defamation is established when facts that lower a person’s social reputation are written.

However, if the facts are true or there are legitimate reasons and evidence to believe they are true, it does not constitute defamation. Therefore, if a review contains content that lowers the social reputation of a store or its employees, and the facts are not true or there are no legitimate reasons or evidence to believe they are true, you can request removal as an illegal act of defamation. For more details on the requirements for defamation, please refer to the article below.

https://monolith.law/reputation/defamation[ja]

In cases where defamation is established, it is also possible to request a transmission prevention measure from the Ekiten administrator or hosting provider based on the Japanese Provider Liability Limitation Act. A transmission prevention measure request is a procedure in which the site administrator or provider who received the request prevents the transmission of information itself if they judge that there are reasonable grounds to believe that the rights of the person who made the request are being infringed. This has the same effect as deletion in practice. However, the decision to delete is left to the discretion of the site administrator who received the request, so it cannot be guaranteed that it will always be deleted. When sending a transmission prevention measure request, you will need to search for Ekiten’s address and recipient in Whois, or if you are a lawyer, you can request disclosure from the lawyer’s declaration form.

Removal by Provisional Disposition

Whether it’s a request for removal due to a violation of terms of use or illegal activities, if the site operator complies with our request and removes the content, the problem is resolved at that point.

However, if the site operator does not comply with our request, it is necessary to use legal proceedings to request removal. For the removal of reviews, you can use a different legal procedure called a provisional disposition. As a provisional disposition is a temporary legal procedure, it is personalityized by the fact that a conclusion is usually reached in a relatively short period of about 1 to 2 months. If a decision is made to remove the content through a provisional disposition, the site operator will have a legal obligation to remove it, and will usually comply with the removal.

In the provisional disposition procedure, it is necessary to make accurate claims based on legal grounds, and also to prepare documents to support these claims. It is difficult to make such claims and provide evidence without the help of a lawyer. Moreover, just because it’s a temporary legal procedure doesn’t mean it’s easy to win. Rather, in the case of provisional dispositions, legal arguments often arise in a procedure called examination, where the site administrator’s side of the story is heard, and the outcome is often influenced by the lawyer’s skill. Therefore, it is advisable to hire a lawyer with extensive experience in defamation cases.

Identification of Posters through Provisional Dispositions

Not only may you request the site operator to remove a review, but you may also seek damages from the individual who wrote the review for defamation. In such cases, it is necessary to know the name and address of the person who wrote the review. However, because this involves highly confidential personal information, it is almost impossible to obtain voluntary disclosure. Therefore, it is necessary to obtain disclosure of the poster’s identity through court proceedings.

For more details on requests for disclosure of sender information, please refer to the article below.

https://monolith.law/reputation/disclosure-of-the-senders-information[ja]

Summary

On Ekiten, you can request the removal of reviews that were posted without actually using the store, as this is a violation of the terms of service. Additionally, even if the review was posted after actually using the store, if it falls under the prohibited posting items, you can request its removal as a violation of the terms of service. Furthermore, if they do not comply with your request for removal, you can identify the poster and request removal through legal proceedings. In particular, malicious slanderous reviews about stores and the like posted on Ekiten can immediately lead to a decrease in sales, so it is necessary to deal with it promptly. Therefore, we recommend consulting with a lawyer who has extensive experience in the IT field to ensure that you can take quick and accurate measures.