A carpet cleaning company in the USA was unhappy with anonymous negative reviews it received on Yelp.
So according to cnet.com it asked Yelp to unmask the identity of 7 reviewers who have placed negative comments.
When Yelp refused, the company took Yelp to court, and has won. Although it may be a shallow victory, as this has now prompted more negative reviews purely based on the news story!
There was an interesting response by Yelp to the cnet article:
“Other courts and other states have shown support for citizens' First Amendment right to speak anonymously. Consumers may feel the need to speak anonymously for privacy reasons or for fear of unfair retaliation by a business. This ruling could have a chilling effect on free speech in Virginia and Yelp will continue to fight to protect consumers' privacy and free speech rights. This ruling also shows the need for strong state and federal legislation to prevent meritless lawsuits aimed solely at stifling free speech."
Court to Yelp: Reveal names of negative reviewers | Technically Incorrect - CNET News”
Court to Yelp: Reveal names of negative reviewers | Technically Incorrect - CNET News”
I'm not a fan of anonymous reviews, but plenty of big site are, including Yelp and Facebook amongst others. It can be quite daunting at times running a review site, especially when you see some of the complaints coming through, and there's always 2 sides to every story. But false negative comments can cause so much damage to a business reputation. Look at hotels and Trip Advisor.
But somehow I think regardless of the courtcase, there is only 1 loser in this instance, regardless if the reviews were genuine or not, or if the company was given a chance to address any reviewers concerns.
It just proves that the power is held by the consumer... If you do get a negative review, don't bury your head in the sand, but be careful how you deal with it!
