Fake Negative Reviews Destroying Your Business? Your Legal Options in Australia

It started with one. Now there are five, six, a dozen. Same writing style, similar timing, all one star, all describing things that never happened. Your rating has tanked from 4.8 to 3.9, your phone has gone quiet, and you’re lying awake wondering who hates you this much.

Coordinated fake reviews are an attack on your livelihood. The good news is that Australian law treats them exactly that way.

The real cost

A cluster of fake reviews doesn’t just sting; it can put you under. Every day they stay up, it costs you customers.

Option 1: Platform takedowns

Report every review. Google, Facebook and ProductReview all prohibit fake reviews. Where you can show a pattern (same day, similar language, no matching customer records), say so in the report. Platforms take patterns more seriously than single complaints. Success is patchy, but it’s free and it creates a record.

Option 2: The ACCC

Fake reviews are misleading conduct under the Australian Consumer Law. If a competitor is behind them, they’re breaking the law and the ACCC has prosecuted businesses for exactly this. Lodge a report. It won’t fix your rating tomorrow, but it adds pressure.

Option 3: The Defamation Concerns Notice

Under the Defamation Act 2005, a Concerns Notice is a required first step before suing for defamation in every state and territory except Western Australia. One limit matters for businesses: under section 9 of the Act, a company can sue for defamation only if it is a not-for-profit, or has fewer than 10 employees and is not related to another company. Sent to the person (or business) behind the reviews, it:

• Identifies each review and the false statements in it
• Sets out the defamatory imputations (dishonesty, incompetence, unsafe practices, and so on)
• Documents the serious financial harm to your business
• Demands removal and a written undertaking not to repeat
• Warns of court proceedings, damages and costs

If you don’t know who’s behind the reviews, you can still act. Courts have ordered Google to disclose reviewer identities, and a Concerns Notice can be served on the platform to preserve evidence. But in most cases, the pattern points straight at someone you know: a competitor, a sacked employee, an ex-partner, a customer you refused a refund to.

Serious harm and small businesses

Businesses with fewer than 10 employees can sue for defamation. You’ll need to show serious financial loss, so start documenting now: booking numbers before and after, cancelled jobs, enquiry rates, customers who mention the reviews.

Injurious falsehood: no size limit

If your business has more than 10 employees, injurious falsehood is your alternative. It covers deliberately false statements causing financial loss, and any business can bring the claim.

While you’re at it

Ask happy customers for honest reviews. Respond calmly and factually to each fake one (“We have no record of this transaction and have reported this review”). Never argue, never accuse publicly.

Claim Done drafts your Defamation Concerns Notice for $49. Done in about 5 minutes. You approve it before it is sent.