Google Maps has ramped up its efforts to tackle fake reviews on its platform by introducing new restrictions and warnings for business profiles involved in such activity. Businesses that violate Google’s Fake Engagement policy can now face a range of temporary restrictions, such as removing fake reviews, blocking new reviews and ratings, and displaying a public warning on their profiles. The warning reads, “Suspected fake reviews were recently removed from this place.”
This change follows earlier actions in the UK, where the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) began investigating Google in 2021 for its handling of fake reviews. The most recent updates were first noticed on a UK business profile shared by a user on X (formerly Twitter), showing the warning message.
Though Google’s support page has been updated to reflect that these restrictions may be applied globally, for now, only users in the UK are seeing such warnings, Search Engine Roundtable reports.
According to Google’s prohibited and restricted content policy, reviews on Maps must reflect authentic experiences at a location or business. The policy prohibits:
- Reviews that misrepresent the services or products of a business
- Incentivized reviews, including those given in exchange for payments, discounts, or freebies
- Manipulation tactics, such as posting reviews from multiple accounts or using emulators and modified operating systems to mimic real engagement
If a business is flagged for breaking these rules, the company will be notified via email and can appeal the decision. In addition to the warning message, other temporary actions might include not allowing the business to receive new reviews or ratings, or unpublishing existing ones. However, it is unclear whether the same warning will appear if fake reviews are reported by the business itself, especially if malicious reviews were posted by others to harm its reputation.
The visible warning, which lets users know that a business profile had fake reviews removed, is designed to provide more transparency. Rather than simply deleting suspicious reviews without explanation, the warning offers users a way to avoid places flagged as potentially untrustworthy.
