Can a bad TripAdvisor review constitute libel?

[DaveReading]

One Tunbridge Wells restaurant owner clearly thinks so. Apologies for the source:

Threatened with jail - just for writing a bad restaurant review on TripAdvisor

Clearly neither he nor his legal advisors are familiar with the Streisand Effect.

 

[Drago]

If its untrue, yes.

Proving it a Court is another matter entirely.

 

[DaveReading]

Proving it a Court is another matter entirely.

If you attach a mocked-up draft of a court injunction to your threatening letter, does that suffice instead ?

 

[Drago]

Good enough!

The woman who drafted the disputed review is the sort who takes selfies of herself in the mirror, then places the image on Facebook but doesn't set her security options properly, so the Daily Mail can pinch it. That's the level of intelligence were dealing with here.

 

[Racing roadkill]

If you state opinions as unequivocal facts, and publish those views anywhere, and they are in any way defamatory, you've got libel. Whether the CPS would bother with it though, is a very different thing.

 

[Drago]

Its a tort, not an offence, so it would be for a civil court to determine.

 

[Racing roadkill]

Its a tort, not an offence, so it would be for a civil court to determine.

True.

 

[welsh dragon]

Whenever you allow anyone to give an oppinion, you are opening yourself up to the possibility of criticism and bad reviews. You can either, 1. Only allow good reviews to be posted. 2. You can apologise and ask the reviewer to give you the opportunity to make it right and for them to give another review. 3. Don't give anyone the ability to give any kind of review.

The fact is, this has now become a newspaper worthy story, and as such, the establishment will be getting so much more negative publicity, that i think they are already regretting getting solicitors involved. In the end, the only winners will be the lawyers as always. The reviewer will come under attack, as will the pub/restaurant, but the lawyers will always get their fees.

 

[Markymark]

Whenever you allow anyone to give an oppinion, you are opening yourself up to the possibility of criticism and bad reviews. You can either, 1. Only allow good reviews to be posted. 2. You can apologise and ask the reviewer to give you the opportunity to make it right and for them to give another review. 3. Don't give anyone the ability to give any kind of review.

The fact is, this has now become a newspaper worthy story, and as such, the establishment will be getting so much more negative publicity, that i think they are already regretting getting solicitors involved. In the end, the only winners will be the lawyers as always. The reviewer will come under attack, as will the pub/restaurant, but the lawyers will always get their fees.

You don't allow people to give opinions on Trip Advisor or Google. Your profile is setup whether you like it or not and reviews are given potentially without knowing they had started.

 

[DaveReading]

If you state opinions as unequivocal facts, and publish those views anywhere, and they are in any way defamatory, you've got libel.

I'd have thought that a review, by definition, was a person's opinion.

She found the staff rude and the food mediocre. The restaurant owner should have taken it on the chin and moved on, instead he and his over-zealous lawyers' response has resulted in over 100 one-star Google reviews, mostly criticising their actions.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Streisand_effect

 

[welsh dragon]

You don't allow people to give opinions on Trip Advisor or Google. Your profile is setup whether you like it or not and reviews are given potentially without knowing they had started.

I am just speaking in general terms, and not about specific sites to be honest. I dont know anything abut trip adviser. But it does seem that most online companies give their customers the opportunity to write reviews. And proving that a review is malicious, or wrong or untrue wherever it comes from would be next to impossible i should think.

 

[bianchi1]

Whenever you allow anyone to give an oppinion, you are opening yourself up to the possibility of criticism and bad reviews. You can either, 1. Only allow good reviews to be posted. 2. You can apologise and ask the reviewer to give you the opportunity to make it right and for them to give another review. 3. Don't give anyone the ability to give any kind of review.

As @Markymark says restaurants don't sign up for TripAdvisor, they have no control of their listing or reviews. That is unless you want to pay them 60 odd quid a month which alloys you to cherry pick your best review and 'pin' it to the top of the page. Basically a form of blackmail and further erodes TripAdvisor's claim to offer an impartial view

In my experience, TripAdvisor is a joke. Fake reviews are abundant as are ones that are just wrong (our restaurant was praised for its excellent cellar bar...which we dont have)! Some restaurants are either paying for reviews or offering customers a free drink for a positive review. The clue here is the business has hundreds of reviews, mostly by 1st time reviewers.

 

[mjr]

If you state opinions as unequivocal facts, and publish those views anywhere, and they are in any way defamatory, you've got libel. Whether the CPS would bother with it though, is a very different thing.

Isn't defamation a civil matter, so the CPS wouldn't bother in any case?

 

[mjr]

I think it's only libel if you can demonstrate that it caused you harm.

I thought that was only necessary to be paid damages, but it seems that may have been changed by the Defamation Act 2013.

 

[Bollo]

Isn't defamation a civil matter, so the CPS wouldn't bother in any case?

If libel was a criminal offence then half of Cyclechat would be in prison! Isn't that right @Drago you smelly old ****?