Restaurants being extorted with review bombs

[Brian Lutz]

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/11/dini ... rants.html

The New York Times reports that a number of restaurants, many of them high-end establishments with Michelin stars, are receiving large numbers of negative Google reviews from people that have never eaten there, and the "reviewers" are then demanding payment to remove the reviews. Law enforement is urging restaurants receiving these threats to contact local police departments as well as the FBI and FTC. Some have been able to get the negative reviews removed, but others have had less luck with this.

[BillyGr]

Simple solution - just reply to the reviews with THIS IS AN OBVIOUS FAKE REVIEW IGNORE THIS. They can stay there but it will make no difference, since actual people will be able to see they aren't real and just ignore them.

[Super S]

Google reviews are not always accurate. I have seen instances where somebody will leave negative reviews for multiple businesses in a short time, and some will leave a review that says "never been there" which is pointless. There are some which are obvious fakes, but I do often see reviews that reflect the experiences I have, both good and bad. I leave occasional reviews, particularly when I have an exceptionally good experience, but also have left a few bad ones when I have had an experience that was uncalled for, this is not limited to restaurants.

[buckguy]

Yelp reviews really went down hill when restaurants (and presumably other businesses) were given more leverage. I had a review where the owner (of a local chain) accused me of never visiting his establishment---I'd visited a couple times and provided specific information rather than a pan.

I wonder if there's some "karma" here.

[pseudo3d]

Yelp reviews really went down hill when restaurants (and presumably other businesses) were given more leverage. I had a review where the owner (of a local chain) accused me of never visiting his establishment---I'd visited a couple times and provided specific information rather than a pan.

I wonder if there's some "karma" here.

I disagree. While that feature can obviously be abused, there are too many Yelp reviews that never get disqualified or weighted differently because they complain about one thing that may not be worth even complaining about, like the lack of gluten free options or them not accepting a coupon that expired two months ago (yes, there's a real Yelp review for a Chinese place that has this...and it's STILL UP after 5+ years).

[Alpha8472]

Google says that you should mark fake reviews as spam. If enough people mark it as spam, Google will remove it. This includes 1 star reviews with no written review. Many people spam businesses with 1 star reviews for no apparent reason.

[storewanderer]

Any business is subject to this if something goes the wrong way. Online reviews are a real double edged sword for everyone involved. I think they provide valuable insight for businesses though but somehow one has to separate the legitimate comments from the unreasonable or illegitimate comments. And sometimes it is tough for a business owner to do that.