How to Remove Reviews from Japanese Wedding Park

What is Wedding Park?

“Wedding Park” is the largest review site for wedding venues in the industry, operated by Wedding Park Inc. As one of the largest bridal specialty sites in Japan, it lists approximately 4,500 wedding venues nationwide. The main features of the site are its extensive search methods for reviews and the richness of its content. The review search methods vary, including by area, atmosphere, official estimates, bridal fairs, and review rankings. In addition, the content is very comprehensive, with reviews, photo submissions (Photo-Comi), and cost details (actual wedding costs, brought-in items, etc.) posted.

Given that weddings are a significant expense and are considered a major life event, many people choose their venue carefully and thoughtfully. For those considering a wedding, the opinions of those who have actually held weddings can be very useful and can be an important factor in choosing a venue. In this way, the influence of reviews on Wedding Park is significant. An increase in positive reviews can lead to more customers for the venue, but negative reviews can create a negative image of the venue and potentially decrease the number of reservations. Even for users who do not use Wedding Park, negative posts may catch their eye when they search for the venue’s name. Furthermore, since Wedding Park allows anonymous posts, there is a risk of damage from negative posts or posts that are close to defamation.

What are Reviews on Wedding Park?

On Wedding Park, you can post reviews about venue inspections and wedding ceremonies. The review categories include the ceremony venue, reception venue, cost performance, location, and staff, which are rated on a five-point scale. The comprehensive analysis of these ratings is displayed on the venue’s page as pie charts labeled “Average Satisfaction,” “Average Wedding Cost,” and “Venue Image.” You can also post your impressions and photos. Many of the impressions are quite detailed, for example, “The venue named XX had a beautiful panoramic view of the sea,” “The main dish of this course, △△, was smaller than the image photo,” “The venue had a ramp, so my grandmother in a wheelchair could get up.” These descriptions provide detailed information, including both pros and cons, that is difficult to know from searches alone. In addition, if you search for “XX Hotel (specific venue name) + review” on search engines like Google, the average satisfaction and reviews posted on Wedding Park will be displayed at the top of the search results.

Understanding Negative Reviews on Wedding Park

On Wedding Park, the majority of reviews are generally positive, contributing to the enhancement of the image and customer attraction of wedding venues. A dedicated review team monitors the site 365 days a year, ensuring that the majority of posts are easy to read and beneficial. However, not all low-rated posts are malicious. Wedding Park is open to anyone to register and is a highly anonymous site, which can lead to the presence of malicious posts that can easily cause reputational damage. Despite the monitoring system, such posts exist because it can be difficult for the operators to determine whether they are defamatory or negative posts based on unavoidable facts that lower the rating, and some are left unattended.

For example, the following types of posts can be considered negative posts related to phone numbers.

Reviews Expressing Excessive Dissatisfaction

Firstly, there are reviews that describe dissatisfaction or shortcomings. A wedding is a major event in one’s life, and many people choose their venue carefully as they will be welcoming many guests. In this process, there may be troubles or points of dissatisfaction that prevent the event from ending with 100% satisfaction. Reflecting dissatisfaction with such incidents or troubles in reviews is negative for the venue, but it can also be beneficial information as a real-life experience for those choosing a venue, so it cannot be categorically labeled as a malicious review. However, the “Review Posting Guidelines” prohibit “posts that recall personal complaints or troubles with the venue”. Even if the information is true and beneficial to the recipient, it is difficult to make a fair judgment about the trouble, so it violates the terms of use. Therefore, if content about a trouble is posted, it may be subject to deletion.

Reviews Based on Untruthful Information

Next, there are reviews that include misinformation or descriptions contrary to fact. Even if the poster did not intend to disrupt business and the description was based on a misunderstanding, it should be deleted if it contradicts the truth. For example, a review might say, “I wanted to have my wedding at Venue A, but they wouldn’t let me,” even though the bridal package plan the poster applied for was limited to Venue C. This can give the impression that there was a mishap at the venue, even though the plan did not allow for Venue A to be chosen in the first place. Other examples include hearsay information like, “I heard that this wedding venue doesn’t train its staff, so their customer service is poor.” Misunderstandings and misinformation that contradict the facts can cause significant damage to the venue if not promptly deleted.

Baseless Rumors and Defamation

Wedding Park encourages phone number verification and clearly displays a verification mark for verified posters to provide more reliable information. However, even without verification, anyone can post, and since it is anonymous, there are cases where defamatory posts against the venue or posts spreading rumors about employees are made.

How to Request Removal for Violation of Terms of Use

Review Posting Guidelines

At Wedding Park, we have established “Review Posting Guidelines”. These guidelines list examples of reviews that cannot be posted. It also states, “If Wedding Park deems a review inappropriate, we may choose to make the review private.”

Wedding Park Terms of Use

Article 3 of the Wedding Park Terms of Use (Use of Review Service & Q&A Service), Paragraph 2, lists the potential reasons for the removal or modification of reviews. If any of these reasons apply, it can be considered for removal.

(2) Expressions or content that include defamatory or discriminatory language against any individual or corporation
(3) Content that threatens or intimidates harm to the honor, life, body, or property of any individual or corporation
(4) False information about specific products or services
(6) Expressions or content that can be interpreted as violent or potentially violent according to social norms
(7) Expressions or content that violate public order and morals
(15) Information directed at specific individuals such as family or friends
(21) Any other information that our company deems inappropriate

Wedding Park Terms of Use[ja] Article 3, Paragraph 2 (excerpt)

How to Request Deletion

In the “Troubleshooting Q&A” service within Wedding Park, there is a button labeled “Report problematic post” located below each post. If you wish to delete a review within the Q&A service, pressing this button will take you to the deletion request form. It would be best to write the specific details here to request deletion. However, there is no such reporting system or deletion request form for venue reviews. If you want to request deletion, your only option is to do so through the general inquiry form for the entire Wedding Park. For the type of inquiry, try selecting “Inquiries about business/services”.

Example of Requesting Removal for Violation of Terms of Use

When making an inquiry, please specify which review you are referring to, so that it is easier for Wedding Park to identify. This time, we will give an example of a case where you can request removal for violation of the terms of use, even if there is no legal problem because the truth of the content can be proven and it does not constitute defamation.

【Example of Inquiry Content】
Thank you for your time. My name is △△, the public relations representative for “〇〇 Bridal Garden”. We would like to request the removal of a review that includes a dispute with a customer.
https://www.weddingpark.net/000000
The review by ID×× who visited in December 2019 states in the 5th line, “I had a wedding on December □, but due to a series of mistakes by a staff member named A, my husband and I ended up arguing and the wedding was ruined. The atmosphere was terrible and the guests left. Despite the special occasion, it was ruined because of A. I asked for an apology later, but there was no response.”
Indeed, there was such a personal trouble on the same day. However, we are considering how to respond, and it is just a one-sided claim. This statement falls under “Posts that recall personal complaints or troubles with the venue, or posts that include content or URLs that can identify individuals”, as it mentions the name of our employee, A. It can be said that it violates the Review Posting Guidelines. It has a negative impact on our company when such posts are made, even though it is impossible to make an objective judgment. We would like to request its removal. Thank you for your understanding.

However, Article 3, Paragraph 2 of the Terms of Use states,

We have the discretion to decide what information obtained from members to post. In addition, members agree that we may not post, or may delete or change without notice to the member, information that includes the expressions or content listed below. However, we are not obligated to delete or change transmitted information or to monitor the actions of members.

This means that whether or not to delete is at the discretion of Wedding Park, and they are not obligated to delete or change. Therefore, just because you request deletion does not mean it will definitely be deleted. If a post that interferes with business or harasses is not deleted even after a deletion request, you may need to consult a lawyer and consider filing a lawsuit.

Requesting Removal on the Grounds of Illegality

Legal Measures Available

If the content violates the law, you can dispute the removal through a lawyer in court. In relation to measures against online reputational damage, there are mainly:

• Request for removal of posted articles and application for provisional disposition
• Request for disclosure of sender information (request for disclosure of IP address, request for disclosure of name and address)
• Claim for damages (claim for damages after identifying the poster)

Among these, the requests directly related to removal are the request for removal of posted articles and the application for provisional disposition.

Legal Claims to Assert

So, when making a legal request for removal, the first thing to consider is to assert “defamation”. Defamation is established when:

• “Publicly”
• “Indicating a fact”
• “Damaging a person’s reputation”

All of these apply. For example, if a review based on a rumor like “I heard the staff at this wedding venue has poor customer service because they don’t have training” is posted, let’s look specifically at whether it meets requirements 1 to 3. First, a review posted on Wedding Park, like this one, can be viewed by an unspecified number of people on the internet, so it can be said to be “public”.

Next, “indicating a fact” means stating a specific fact that is sufficient to lower a person’s social evaluation, regardless of whether it is true or false. Even if the venue in question does not provide staff training as rumored, such a review gives the impression of poor customer service, so it can be said to be a fact that significantly lowers social evaluation.

Finally, to “damage”, it is sufficient if there is an abstract risk of social evaluation being harmed, and it is not necessary for the reputation to be actually infringed. It is not necessary to prove that the post in question has been viewed by an unspecified number of people and has been flooded with criticism and protests. It is enough to say that there is an objective risk.

Please refer to the following article for detailed requirements for defamation.

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

Removal by Provisional Disposition

A provisional disposition is a method stipulated in the Japanese Civil Preservation Law, which is used when an immediate resolution is required. It allows for a temporary measure to be taken before a final judgment is obtained through a formal lawsuit. In cases like this, where slanderous reviews are involved, once the information is spread, it can cause irreparable damage. Therefore, it is effective to use the provisional disposition system to demand the immediate removal of such information. Once a provisional disposition order is issued, the court orders the other party to delete the post, and the other party must comply.
In the case of provisional dispositions, if you consult with a lawyer who has expertise in reputational damage control, in many cases, it is possible to achieve deletion from the time of request within about 2-3 months. This can be said to be an effective measure.
For detailed explanations about the deletion of articles in cases of slander and reputational damage, and the procedures for provisional dispositions, please refer to the article below.

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

Identification of Posters through Provisional Dispositions

While posts on Wedding Park are displayed anonymously, users are required to register personal information. This means that malicious posts carry significant risk for the poster, and as such, harassment-like posts are likely to be few. However, it is unfortunately possible for individuals to register with false information and post harassment-like content without being identified.

Even in such cases, if baseless defamatory posts or posts causing reputational damage continue to be made, or if a large number of malicious reviews are posted, it may be possible to identify the poster by requesting a lawyer to disclose information such as the poster’s IP address through what is known as a sender information disclosure request. Once this is done, it becomes possible to seek damages for the harm caused by the defamatory posts from the identified sender. The flow of these procedures is explained in detail in the article below.

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

Summary

As such, even if reputational damage occurs due to reviews on Wedding Park, it may be possible to resolve the issue. However, the method and argument to be used, and whether deletion will be permitted, varies depending on the individual case. In any case, if you are claiming illegality, you will need the help of a lawyer. First, consult with a lawyer to determine whether the review violates the law. As explained in this article, legal claims such as defamation can be difficult to handle without the assistance of a lawyer. If you are troubled by reputational damage reviews, it is important to consult with a lawyer who has expertise in this area.