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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. 1

    Submitted

    Automated checks look for personal information, threats, promotional content and duplication, and score the review for authenticity.

  2. 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. 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. 4

    Decided

    A moderator decides against the published grounds below, records a rationale, and cites the clause relied on.

  5. 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
0
Cases resolved
0
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.