How removal works on Google and other platforms, what you pay for, what stays up and what the law allows. If your question isn’t here, ask it in the chat.
Yes, when a review breaks Google’s content policy, but only Google can take it down. Honest reviews from real customers, even harsh ones, usually stay up.
You pay for the Google reviews that come down. The price and the most you can be charged are in the terms you accept in the app before anything is filed.
There is no set time. Google decides when it reviews each report, so we follow every filing until Google decides and email you when a review comes down.
You pay for the ones that come down. The platform decides on each review, and a review it keeps up shows as Could not be removed in your TrustOS portal.
Yes. Google’s systems blocked or removed over 292 million policy-violating reviews in 2025. They still miss some fake reviews, which owners must report.
No. Google has no setting to turn reviews off. You can see new bad reviews early and report the ones that break Google’s policy, by hand or automatically.
Sometimes. Google says the reviewer may be told when their review is removed, and may still see it on their own profile marked “Not posted” or “Private”.
An honest review that breaks no platform rule stays up. We also do not take BBB complaints, retailer product ratings, personal photos or news articles.
You send the links, your account manager confirms the price and terms, and we file each item with the platform under its own rules. The platform decides.
Yes. You can still choose a review you reported or appealed yourself. Google gives each review one appeal, so tell us what Google decided before we file.
Yes. A platform can restore a review it removed, for example after the reviewer appeals. If a review we removed comes back, we file it again at no charge.
Usually hidden, not erased. The platform takes it off the public page for everyone, but Google and Reddit often keep a copy that can be restored later.
The platform does. Google, Yelp and Trustpilot each judge a reported review against their own published policy, not against what the business finds fair.
We don’t judge that; the platform does. You choose which reviews we file, and the platform keeps any review that breaks none of its rules, however harsh.
Yes, when the post breaks a sitewide Reddit Rule or the subreddit’s own rules. A post that only criticizes your business, even harshly, usually stays up.
Yes, when it breaks Trustpilot’s guidelines, such as a reviewer with no genuine experience or one naming your staff. Honest criticism usually stays up.
Yes, when a Recommendation or post breaks Meta’s rules, for example a fake account or no real experience. Meta decides, and honest reviews usually stay up.
Yes, when a review breaks Tripadvisor’s Review Guidelines, such as blackmail or a competitor’s review. Tripadvisor decides. Honest reviews usually stay up.
Yes, we can file them, and Instagram decides. It removes posts, comments and accounts that break its rules, such as impersonation, not honest criticism.
Yes, if it breaks Glassdoor’s Community Guidelines. Flag it from the review or the Employer Center. Glassdoor decides, and honest reviews usually stay up.
It reads covered Google listings about every 6 to 7 hours and files each new 1 or 2 star review from the last 14 days. You pay for the ones that come down.
Paying a company to report reviews that break Google’s policy is legal, and Google still makes every decision. A scam looks similar from the outside, because legitimate services and extortionists both say you pay after removal. The difference shows in seven places: who contacted whom, what access they ask for, what they promise, how they say removal happens, how they want to be paid, what the written terms say and whether they offer to post or pressure reviews. This guide gives the checks, a comparison table, Google’s and the FTC’s own warnings, and what to do if you have already been targeted.
A former employee may not review their old employer on Google. Google’s Maps user-generated content policy names “current or former employment” as a conflict of interest, under its Rating manipulation and Misrepresentation rules. Google removes these reviews when it can see the link, so the work is in showing it with public information. Indeed and Glassdoor are different: they exist for employees to review employers, and an honest review there stays up. This guide covers Google’s exact wording, the evidence that shows the link, reviews from the employee’s friends and family, what the National Labor Relations Act stops you from doing, and when to call an employment lawyer.
Google reviews disappear when Google’s filter removes them, when the reviewer deletes the review or loses their account, when Google restricts your profile, when profiles are merged or moved, or when a display problem hides them. Google removes reviews of every star rating, with or without a report, and says it does not restore reviews it removed for a policy violation. This guide explains each cause, what you see, and what you can still do.
A 1-star rating with no text breaks none of Google’s content rules by itself, because there are no words to judge. Google can still remove it when you can show something about the reviewer: that the rating came in a burst of fake ratings, from someone with a conflict of interest, or from someone who was never a customer. This guide covers what Google’s policy says, which grounds still apply, how a pattern across several reviews changes a report, and what to do if the rating stays up.
Do not pay, and do not reply to the demand. Save every message and every review first, then report the extortion to Google with its merchant extortion report form and report each review as fake engagement. Google added that form in November 2025, and in April 2026 it said it now pauses new reviews on a profile under attack and alerts the owner. This guide covers the two kinds of review extortion, how to tell an attack from an ordinary run of bad reviews, the evidence to keep, when to go to the police or the FBI’s IC3, and what the FTC Consumer Review Rule says about threats.
On the Google profiles of the local businesses we monitor, 5.6% of reviews are one-star, about 1 in 18, and 87.8% are five-star. The median profile has 121 reviews, a 4.75 average and 7 reviews at three stars or below. This study gives those figures and six more findings, each with its sample and dates. The data covers 306,017 reviews on 1,106 Google Business Profiles, read in October 2026. The businesses came to a review removal company, so they are not a random sample of Google.
Google’s Reviews Management Tool shows a reported review as Decision pending, Report reviewed - no policy violation, or Escalated - check your email for updates. Each review gets one appeal, and one appeal can hold up to 10 reviews. The final decision comes by email, and a review that stays up keeps the Escalated status. After that, an owner can still report an edited review, report the reviewer’s profile, use Google’s extortion or legal forms where they fit, and reply.
You cannot delete a review someone else left on your Google Business Profile. Only Google can, and only when the review breaks its Maps user-generated content policy or the law. You report the review from your profile or the Reviews Management Tool, and you get one appeal if Google keeps it. Two separate forms cover extortion and unlawful content. This guide sets out which route fits which review, the evidence to collect, and Google’s current steps for each route.
Report a fake Google review from your Business Profile or in Google’s Reviews Management Tool, and choose the policy it breaks. Google removes reviews that break its Maps user-generated content policy, not reviews that are only negative. This guide lists the signs of a fake review with how much each one proves, shows what normal looks like across 306,017 reviews on 1,106 Google profiles, and covers the report, the one appeal, extortion and the FTC rule on fake reviews.
Google removes a review only when it breaks a heading in its Maps user-generated content policy, such as Fake Engagement, Rating Manipulation, Offensive content, Personal information or Off-topic. A real customer’s negative review, written respectfully, stays up however unfair it feels. This guide lists every heading on Google’s Prohibited & restricted content page as it reads in October 2026, with a realistic example review and how easy a break of each one is for Google to see. It also covers the rules on employee names and the changes Google made in June 2025, February 2026 and September 2026.
Reply to a negative review in three to five calm sentences written for the next customer: thank the reviewer, name the specific problem, say what you changed and give a named contact. Never confirm that the reviewer is a patient or client, never call them a liar without proof, and never threaten a lawsuit you have no basis for. Health providers have paid HHS settlements over review replies, bar rules limit what lawyers may say, and the FTC Consumer Review Rule bans groundless legal threats used to get a review removed. A reply does not stop you reporting a review that breaks the platform’s rules. This guide gives example replies for five situations and the steps on Google, Yelp, Facebook and Trustpilot.
Google bans reviews that a competitor posts to hurt your business, so a fake review from a rival can come down. Google has to see the link, though, not just your suspicion. This guide covers Google’s exact rules, the signs that point to a competitor, what our data says about clusters and who writes negative reviews, the public evidence to save, how to report and appeal, and the legal routes: the Lanham Act, state unfair competition and defamation claims, and the FTC Consumer Review Rule.
Yes. You can sue the person who wrote a fake review if it states a false fact about your business and that fact harmed you. You cannot sue Google, Yelp or another platform for hosting it, because Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act protects them. In 12 of the 15 states with the most small businesses, you have one year from the date of the review to file. In 9 of those 15 states, an anti-SLAPP law makes you pay the reviewer’s legal fees if the court finds the review is protected speech and dismisses your case. Report the review to the platform first, and sue only when the review states a provably false fact, you can show a loss, and you can afford to find the reviewer.
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