Is Google review removal legal in Australia?

Yes, when the review is fake, defamatory or breaks Google’s policies. Asking Google to remove it is lawful, and a service can make that request for you. Removing, suppressing or paying to remove genuine negative reviews is not: the ACCC treats it as misleading conduct under the Australian Consumer Law.

Written by Konrad Weber · Reviewed by Andrew Foster, Review Removal Specialist · Updated 2026-10-25

Legal and not legal at a glance

Lawful

Reporting a review that breaks Google’s policies, such as a fake review from someone who was never a customer, spam, or a review posted by a competitor.
Submitting a legal removal request to Google for a review that makes false, defamatory statements of fact.
Reporting a review that publishes personal information, such as a staff member’s phone number or a patient’s health details.
Paying a service to prepare and submit those reports and requests for you.
Replying publicly to any review, and resolving the customer’s complaint so they choose to update it.

Not lawful

Removing, hiding or arranging the removal of genuine negative reviews to make your business look better.
Paying or rewarding a customer to delete or change an honest review.
Writing reviews about your own business, or buying them, including asking friends and family to “balance out” a bad one.
Steering only happy customers towards leaving reviews, or keeping likely critics away from the review prompt.
Posting negative reviews on a competitor’s listing.

Where Australian law draws the line

Australian Consumer Law

The Australian Consumer Law prohibits misleading or deceptive conduct in trade or commerce (s 18) and false or misleading testimonials (s 29). A review profile is a picture consumers rely on. Adding fake praise distorts it, and so does taking genuine criticism away. That is why the law cuts both ways: it targets fake reviews and the suppression of real ones. Our page on Australian Consumer Law and online reviews covers the sections and the cases in detail.

Defamation law

A review can be unlawful in itself when it makes a false statement of fact that damages someone’s reputation, for example that the owner steals from customers. In most states and territories the person or eligible small business must show serious harm. Honest opinion and true statements are defences. See defamatory Google reviews for how that applies to a review.

Google’s own policies

Google removes reviews that break its contributed content policy, whether or not they are unlawful: fake engagement, conflicts of interest, harassment, personal information and off-topic content. A review that breaks these rules can be removed without anyone going near a court.

What the ACCC has done about review manipulation

The ACCC has taken businesses to court over reviews, and the penalties have been significant:

Meriton (2018), $3 million: stopped guests it expected to complain from receiving TripAdvisor’s review invitation.
HealthEngine (2020), $2.9 million: among other conduct, did not publish thousands of negative patient reviews and edited others.
Service Seeking (2020), $600,000: let businesses write their own reviews, which were presented as customer reviews.
Aveling Homes (2017), $380,000: ran a review site presented as independent and filtered out negative reviews.

CHOICE has reported that the ACCC took action against 24 businesses that offered to remove negative reviews or provided other review management services, and that the ACCC regards removing or offering to remove genuine negative reviews as a breach of consumer law.

Penalties have risen since those cases. Since November 2022, the maximum penalty for a company for each breach of provisions such as s 29 is the greater of $50 million, three times the benefit obtained, or 30% of adjusted turnover during the breach period. Section 18 on its own carries no fine, but courts can still grant injunctions and damages.

Is it legal to pay a review removal service?

What a legitimate service does

A legitimate service cannot delete anything. Only Google can. What it does is check whether a review breaks Google’s policies or Australian law, collect the evidence, and put the case to Google through its reporting and legal removal channels. Paying for that work is lawful, in the same way as paying a lawyer to send a letter. The legal risk is in the aim: if the goal is to remove honest criticism, the service and the business that hired it can both be caught by the Australian Consumer Law.

Red flags: services to avoid

It guarantees removal. Google decides, so nobody can guarantee it.
It offers to “refresh” or wipe your listing, removing all reviews, good and bad.
It will target any negative review without asking what is wrong with it.
It suggests friends, family or bought reviews to lift your rating.
It contacted you out of the blue right after bad reviews appeared.
It sells ongoing “protection” that removes reviews whenever your rating drops.
It does not say who it is: no company name, registration or address.

Several of these come straight from a case CHOICE reported, in which a medical practice was offered a one-off listing refresh and a monthly plan to remove reviews that pulled the rating below three stars.

Can you ask a customer to change or remove their review?

You can reply, apologise, fix the problem and let the customer decide whether to update what they wrote. That is ordinary customer service. What crosses the line is attaching a condition: a refund, a discount or cash in exchange for deleting the review, or a threat of legal action you have no real basis for. CHOICE has reported a customer being offered $500 to take a negative Google review down and stay quiet.

Health service providers should take extra care when replying: a reply that confirms someone was a patient, or mentions their treatment, can breach the Privacy Act regardless of the practice’s size. Our guide to reviews with personal information explains why.

How we decide which reviews to challenge

Every review goes through the same four questions at the free assessment, before any fee is possible:

Is it a statement of fact or an opinion? “The food was bland” is opinion and stays. “They charged my card twice and refused a refund” is a factual claim that can be tested.
Is there evidence it is false or not based on a real experience? For example, no booking, invoice or visit matching the reviewer.
Which policy or law does it break? We name the specific Google policy or legal ground before we take a case.
Would removing it mislead anyone? If a real customer is describing a real experience, taking it down would give future customers a false picture, so we decline.

When a review fails these questions, we tell you so, free of charge, and suggest how to reply to it instead. You can read more about how we assess negative reviews and our process.

Common mistakes

Reporting every negative review. Reporting genuine criticism wastes your reports and makes valid ones easier to overlook.
Trying to outweigh a bad review with bought or friendly ones. That is the conduct the ACCC penalises.
Replying in anger. A defensive public reply often does more damage than the review, and can create its own legal problems.
Not keeping evidence. Screenshot the review with its date and author before reporting it, in case it is edited or you need to escalate.
Hiring a service without checking who runs it. If you cannot find a company name and registration, do not hand over access to your profile.

If you are weighing up your options, start by reporting a fake Google review yourself. It is free and sometimes enough. Not sure whether your review crosses the line? Send it to us for a free Google review removal assessment. We reply within 24 hours, and we will tell you if it does not.

Sources

Frequently asked questions

Is it illegal to remove negative Google reviews in Australia?

Removing or arranging the removal of genuine negative reviews can breach the Australian Consumer Law, because it gives consumers a misleading picture. Asking Google to remove reviews that are fake, defamatory or against its policies is lawful.

Can I get in trouble for using a review removal company?

Yes, if the company removes or targets genuine reviews on your behalf. The business that benefits can be liable as well as the service. A company that only challenges reviews breaking Google’s policies or the law, and tells you when a review does not, keeps you on the right side of the line.

What are the penalties for fake or manipulated reviews?

Courts have ordered penalties of $380,000 to $3 million in ACCC review cases. Since November 2022 the maximum for a company is the greater of $50 million, three times the benefit, or 30% of adjusted turnover during the breach period, per breach.

Can Google remove a review because it is defamatory?

Yes. Google has a legal removal request for content that is unlawful under local law, including defamation. It assesses each request and may remove the review or restrict it in Australia.

Can a business delete reviews from its own Google profile?

No. Only Google can remove a review. A business can report it, reply to it or ask Google to reconsider. See can businesses delete Google reviews.