Moderation and appeals
Moderation exists to keep reviews honest, not to keep businesses comfortable. Automated checks route work to people; people make the decisions; decisions are logged, published in aggregate, and can be appealed.
The route a contested review takes
- 1
Submitted
Automated checks look for personal information, threats, promotional content and duplication, and score the review for authenticity.
- 2
Published or queued
Most reviews publish immediately. Anything flagged goes to a moderator and is shown publicly as “Under review” in the meantime — it is not hidden.
- 3
Reported or disputed
A reader can report a review; a business can dispute it and submit private evidence such as order records or correspondence.
- 4
Decided
A moderator decides against the published grounds below, records a rationale, and cites the clause relied on.
- 5
Appealed
The reviewer can appeal a removal. A second, more senior moderator reviews it. Overturned decisions are counted below.
Grounds for removal
Not about a genuine experience
Fabricated, second-hand, or written by someone with no dealing with the business.
Undisclosed connection
Written by staff, owners, competitors or anyone with an interest they did not declare.
Incentivised without disclosure
Exchanged for payment, discounts or gifts, or conditioned on the rating given.
Personal information
Names of staff not acting publicly, addresses, order numbers, phone numbers or payment details.
Harassment or threats
Abuse aimed at an individual, or language that reads as a threat.
Illegal or harmful content
Content that is unlawful, or that puts someone at risk.
Not about this business
Filed against the wrong company, or about something the business had no part in.
Never grounds for removal
- A review being negative, or damaging to a business's reputation.
- A business objecting to it, disputing it, or threatening legal action over it.
- The business subscribing to a higher plan, or asking as a customer of ours.
- A dispute about the facts, where both accounts are plausible — the reply mechanism exists for that.
Last 30 days
- Cases opened
- 1
- Cases resolved
- 1
- Business disputes
- 0
- Disputes that led to removal or redaction
- 0
- Reviewer appeals
- 0
- Appeals decided against us
- 0
We publish the appeals-overturned figure because a platform that never overturns its own decisions is either infallible or not really reviewing them.