In this day and age, businesses rely on reviews in order to grow their customer or client base. Many will even encourage customers to leave an online review after purchasing a product or utilizing a service. However, not every business interaction is a positive one, and that might lead one to wonder, can you be sued for leaving a negative review? The answer depends on one key factor: the truth of the review.
While the majority of people base their review on a real experience and/or opinion, some choose to leave reviews that are not based in fact. These types of reviews are often defamatory in nature and may lead to legal problems.
Though it’s not common, businesses can sue over false and defamatory reviews. Therefore, it’s important for consumers to understand what these types of reviews entail and avoid leaving them.
Consumer Review Fairness Act
The Consumer Review Fairness Act (CRFA) provides broad legal protections for individuals to share their honest opinions about a business’s products, services, or conduct. Consumers depend on reviews when making purchasing decisions; therefore, the law says that businesses cannot prohibit honest reviews, nor can they threaten legal action over them.
The CRFA was passed in response to reports that some businesses have tried to prevent people from giving their honest review about products or services. The act protects honest consumer assessments including online reviews, social media posts, uploaded photos/videos, and other online posts or communications. The CRFA also makes it illegal for companies to include standardized provisions that threaten or penalize people for posting honest reviews.
This means that customers have the right to leave even unfavorable reviews, so long as the review is based on an actual experience or honest opinion. However, if customers leave a review that is libelous, clearly false, or misleading, businesses do have the right to remove the review and even sue the reviewer, in some instances.
What Is A Defamatory Review?
Defamation involves making a false statement about a person, persons, or a business. Defamatory statements can come in two forms: libel (written) and slander (spoken). If someone makes a false claim on social media or leaves a false review for a business, that business can sue the offending individual. Therefore, it’s important to be completely honest in all online reviews and online posts about a business.
Defamatory reviews tend to occur after a customer has a negative experience. They may exaggerate or state outright falsehoods about their experience in order to retaliate against the business. They may also ask a friend or family member who has never been a customer of that business to leave a negative review in order to cause further harm. These types of reviews can result in decreased sales and a loss of income for the business and therefore are often taken seriously.
Again, the key element in leaving any review for a business is to always be truthful and base your review on an actual experience. Even if the review is negative, consumers have the right to share their opinion. Just be careful that reviews do not cross the line into defamation.