How to Remove Reviews on Yelp (イェルプ) that Lead to Reputational Damage?

Yelp is a comprehensive review platform on a global scale. Originating in the United States, it has become a national tool used by many people. It has also started to expand its services in Japan, attracting attention due to its uniqueness. However, due to the vast amount of reviews and users worldwide, it is a site with a high risk of reputational damage. In this article, we will explain what to do if you become a victim of defamation on Yelp.

What is Yelp, the review site?

Yelp is a global local business review site operated by Yelp, Inc. in the United States. Yelp operates in over 30 countries worldwide, and the service was launched in Japan in 2014. In Japan, it is often compared to the Japanese review site “Tabelog”, but Yelp covers not only restaurants but also various local businesses such as dentists, beauty salons, hospitals, and fitness gyms.

Another personalityistic of Yelp is that it encourages users to register with their real names and faces when creating an account. Many people link their accounts with Facebook, which also encourages the use of real names, ensuring the reliability of the reviews by identifying who posted them. (Real name registration is not mandatory) Furthermore, Yelp has introduced a recommendation software to ensure the reliability of reviews. This software scrutinizes the content of posts and information about the poster, distinguishing between recommendable reviews and those that are not. If a review is deemed not recommendable, it can be viewed but only by clicking on it, and it is excluded from the overall rating. On average, about 75% of all reviews are considered recommendable.

Yelp is also famous for its comprehensive search function. You can search for shops that are currently open or within a certain distance, such as “shops within X km”, making it easy to find suitable shops even in unfamiliar places like travel destinations. It also has a camera function called “Monocle”, which displays information about nearby shops in the direction you point your smartphone in the city. In addition, it has social networking elements, such as the ability to announce events and chat with other users. In Japan, there are still few users and most of the reviews are by foreign users, but with the expected increase in foreign tourists in the future, it is expected that its popularity will expand in Japan as well.

Potential Reputational Damage on Yelp

Firstly, Yelp allows not only positive but also negative posts. This is because they believe that providing detailed facts, regardless of their nature, can be beneficial information for users. Therefore, there is a risk of defamatory reviews, such as the following.

Reviews Pointing Out Low Quality of Service

For example, in a hair salon, a review might say, “The cut was rough, and I ended up with a hairstyle completely different from what I wanted.” In a bakery, it might be, “The fried bread was soggy, and I can’t say it was delicious at all.” In a hospital, it could be, “The nurse’s injection was poor, and I had to have the needle inserted and removed multiple times.” In businesses that provide specialized services, technical skills are a major selling point. If a review pointing out low quality is published, it is highly likely to lead to a decrease in customers and a drop in sales.

Reviews Pointing Out Poor Customer Service

Reviews such as “The staff was unfriendly and made me feel uncomfortable,” “The doctor was smirking throughout, and I felt like I was being mocked,” or “The hairdresser made a sarcastic remark,” can also be considered. Many people do not want to go to a store where the customer service is poor. In the service industry, this can be a fatal issue.

How to Request Yelp to Remove a Review?

Yelp states that reviews violating their content guidelines or terms of service can be removed.

Yelp’s Review Removal Criteria

In their review-specific guidelines, Yelp asks users to keep the following three points in mind when posting reviews:

• Personal experience: hearsay, generalizations, and rumors are not allowed
• Accuracy: exaggerating or distorting facts is not allowed
• Review updates: repeatedly posting the same content is not allowed

Content that violates these three points may be eligible for removal by the site. However, as mentioned above, reviews posted on Yelp are divided into recommended reviews and others using an automated tool. Reviews that are not recommended are displayed in less noticeable areas of the site and are not removed. Therefore, even if a review violates the guidelines, it is quite possible that it will remain public unless a removal request is made from our side.

Also, the terms of service prohibit the following actions. These can also be used as removal criteria.

Ⅱ Posting false or defamatory reviews, exchanging reviews with others, or paying or receiving compensation in exchange for posting, not posting, or removing a review
Ⅲ Infringing on the rights of third parties, including credit, copyright, trademark, patent, trade secret, moral rights, privacy rights, rights of publicity, or other intellectual property or proprietary rights
Ⅳ Threatening others, stalking, causing harm, harassing, or promoting prejudice or discrimination

Yelp Terms of Service [ja]

If you can prove that a review falls under the above prohibitions or violates the guidelines, there is a good chance that the removal will be successful. Regarding prohibition Ⅱ, Yelp prohibits users from receiving something for free from the business in question in return for writing a review. This practice is nothing more than encouraging positive reviews, and is not appropriate from the perspective of accuracy and fairness.

How to Remove Yelp Reviews

Use the site’s inquiry form and make an inquiry. In the checkbox to select a topic, choose “Suspicious Content” and select “Choose this option if the content is deemed to infringe on your legal rights (e.g., copyright infringement, privacy infringement, etc.)”. Then, enter the requested information such as your name, address, and details of the violation. However, as stated in the text, the chances of successful removal are high unless you can prove that your legal rights, such as defamation or copyright infringement, have been violated. Therefore, it can be said that the difficulty of successful removal is high.

Another option is to directly interact with the poster and have them remove the post

On Yelp, it is possible to send a reply message to reviews about your own shop. If you respond appropriately and alleviate the poster’s dissatisfaction, there is a chance that the poster will voluntarily remove their negative post. If you convey a sincere apology and a commitment to improvement, the poster, being human, may feel they have gone too far and may retract their post. What you need to be careful about is that you should never argue. Arguing could add fuel to the fire and escalate the defamatory post. The exchange of messages can be viewed by all Yelp users. Seeing your rebuttal to a complaint could potentially alienate people who have never been to your shop.

How to Claim Illegality and Request the Removal of Yelp Reviews

If you cannot achieve the desired result by requesting the site to remove a review, you may need to resort to the courts. When claiming illegality, it is common to allege defamation. Defamation is established when it is recognized that “facts are publicly disclosed, damaging a person’s reputation”. Here, “facts” do not mean the truth, but specific matters. In other words, if it can be judged that the public disclosure of specific matters has resulted in lowering someone else’s social evaluation, defamation is established.

Furthermore, these “facts” need to be false, not true. For example, let’s say someone wrote, “This store is a black company that forces its employees to work overtime without pay.” However, whether a company is a black company or not is debatable, as there are no clear criteria for what constitutes a black company. In this case, even if it is true that the company forces its employees to work overtime without pay, it may not be considered a fact, and there is a good chance that defamation will not be established.

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

How to Request the Removal of Yelp Reviews through Provisional Disposition

When you think of making a claim to a court, you might imagine initiating a lawsuit. However, in the case of review removal, it often takes time to get an order, so lawsuits are rarely initiated. In this case, it is common to proceed with a provisional disposition, a procedure that is faster than a lawsuit. A provisional disposition is a procedure to realize the state where the request has been accepted before conducting a lawsuit. A provisional disposition order is usually issued within 1 to 2 months. Even though it is a provisional order, it is issued by the court, so the site will likely comply with the removal request. Although no trial is conducted in a provisional disposition, legal arguments still need to be made. You must clearly state what legal rights are being violated and why they are being violated. As these arguments can be difficult for a layperson, it is recommended to consult with a lawyer who is experienced in dealing with online defamation.

https://monolith.law/reputation/provisional-disposition[ja]

How to Identify Yelp Reviewers through Provisional Dispositions

In provisional dispositions, not only can you request removal, but you can also identify the poster. However, in the case of Yelp, unlike many other review sites, you can know who posted the review. Therefore, the process of identifying the poster is often unnecessary. Just in case, let me explain the process of identifying the poster through a provisional disposition. First, you request the site to disclose the poster’s IP address. If the request is granted and you obtain the IP address, you then ask the provider who provided the internet connection environment for the post to disclose the poster’s personal information. In other words, a two-step process is necessary. It may seem troublesome, but if you want to claim damages, identifying the poster is an essential process.

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

Summary

We have discussed measures against defamation and reputational damage caused by reviews posted on Yelp. On Yelp, it’s acceptable to post negative content, so there’s a significant risk of defamatory reviews being posted. First, use the inquiry form on the site to request removal. If the site does not respond, assert defamation and initiate procedures for removal requests and identification of the poster. Since legal claims are required, it is recommended to seek the help of a lawyer who is experienced in dealing with online defamation.