Google Sued by 90 Doctors Over Damaging Reviews in Japan

The user reviews are very helpful and can influence other’s actions significantly. Good reviews would encourage conversions and bad reviews could not only decrease the conversions but also damage the entire business. Recently, my doctor retired from the practice, and I had to look for a new doctor. During the search process, I did review their profiles as well as patients’ reviews. Choosing a new doctor is not the same as choosing a new nail polish. One bad review could sway the decision.

No Actions by Google

The announcement came that 90 doctors will sue Google over inaccurately bad and damaging reviews on Google in Japan. They came to this decision after Google hadn’t removed those reviews after their multiple requests. The concerned reviews contain the names and addresses of the doctors.

On Google’s website, it is stated, “When a review is posted, it’s immediately sent to our moderation system to ensure it doesn’t violate Google’s policies and prevent inappropriate content from being posted.” It also states, “Google’s operator team reviews submitted content 24 hours a day. If we find a review that violates our policy, we will delete it.” It seems that Google is not keeping its word in this case, as some of the reviews are nothing but harassment. Japan’s Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare comments, “Each patient’s condition is different, and writing about it in a review may give the wrong impression to those who read it. It falls under the prohibitions on medical advertising.”

Review Scam

You may have heard of “Reputation Management Services”, which claim to lower damaging results and reviews in the search results to where no one would see them for a fee. Some of the 90 doctors mentioned that they have been approached by agencies who offer to remove negative reviews from Google. If you understand how the reviews work, it can be deleted by only two people, Google and who wrote the review. If such service does work, it is likely that they wrote those negative reviews. And, this is more of the reason that Google must take action swiftly.

Is Government Intervention Necessary?

I am not a fan of government interventions, but I do believe that the government needs to regulate online activities to keep both individual users and businesses safe. If this is a review scam, it should be punished as a crime. I also think that Google must provide an easier way to remove inaccurate reviews. Unfortunately, it had to come to the lawsuit, but hopefully, it will lead to improvements.