Fake or false Google reviews in Ireland: what a business, and a reviewer, can do

A review is a public statement about a business, read by people deciding whether to walk in. When it is false, the harm is immediate and the question people type is whether they can take the reviewer to court. When it is honest, the reviewer wants to know whether a letter from the business means anything.

This guide answers both. The first part is for the business that has been reviewed. The section headed "If you are the reviewer" is for the person who wrote it.

A bad review is not the same as a false one

Under s.6 of the Defamation Act 2009 a defamatory statement is one that tends to injure a person's reputation in the eyes of reasonable members of society. It must be published to at least one person other than the plaintiff, and it must identify, or be understood to refer to, the plaintiff. A review on a business listing meets the publication and identification parts almost by definition: it is public and it sits under your name.

The hard question is the statement itself. The Act gives the reviewer two defences that matter here. Truth under s.16: if what the review says happened did happen, the claim fails, and it is the reviewer who has to prove it. Honest opinion under s.20: a view honestly held, based on facts, is protected even if you disagree with it.

So the useful split is fact against opinion. A remark that the food was cold and the service slow is a statement of experience that reads as opinion. A claim that a business charged a customer's card twice and refused to refund, or that staff stole from a customer, is a statement of fact. If it is untrue, it may be defamatory. If a reviewer never set foot in the premises, the whole review is a false statement of fact dressed as experience, and that is the kind of review this guide is mostly about. The guide on truth, no names and "allegedly" goes deeper on the line between the two.

The company hurdle since 1 March 2026

If your business is a company, there is an extra element. Since 1 March 2026, under the Defamation (Amendment) Act 2026, a body corporate must show that the statement caused, or is likely to cause, serious financial loss. The Act does not put a figure on "serious". A sole trader or a partnership is an individual in the eyes of the Act and does not have to prove financial loss at all.

For a company this changes the evidence you need from the start. Booking numbers before and after the review, cancelled orders that mention it, enquiries that stopped, and the review's position on the listing all go towards showing loss or likely loss. The serious financial loss guide sets out what that evidence may look like. The 2026 changes are tracked at the rule-change tracker.

Capture the review before you do anything

Screenshot the review as it appears on the listing, with the reviewer's display name, the star rating, the date shown and the URL. Screenshot the reviewer's profile and any other reviews on it. Note the date you first saw it. Check your own records: was this person a customer, and if so when and what happened? Keep the search for a transaction, booking or email in writing. If the review is edited or removed later, your copy is what proves what was said.

The clock starts when the review was first capable of being viewed, and you have one year from then. One cause of action covers every publication of the same review by the same publisher, so a review that has sat there for eight months is one publication with four months left on it. The time limit guide and the time limit tool cover the extension to two years and its test.

Route one: Google's own reporting route and the Article 16 notice

Two routes to the platform run side by side. Google has its own process for reporting reviews that breach its policies; the detail of those policies is not set out in this guide and should be read on the platform's current help pages. Separately, under Article 16 of the Digital Services Act, every hosting service must offer an electronic route to notify it of illegal content. Your notice should say why the content is illegal (a false statement of fact that may be defamatory), give its exact location, include your name and email, and contain a good-faith statement that the information in the notice is accurate. Coimisiún na Meán is Ireland's Digital Services Coordinator.

A notice can get the review removed. It cannot get you a correction, an apology or compensation, and the platform may leave the review up, particularly where the dispute is one person's word against another's. Keep the notice and the response. The notice builder lays the notice out so every required element is there.

Route two: do not fight it in the replies

Replying to a review in public is tempting and usually unwise. Your reply is itself a publication. If you write that the reviewer is lying, or never visited, or has a grudge, that statement about them may be defamatory if you cannot prove it. A short, factual reply that says you have no record of the visit and invites the reviewer to contact you directly is the most a solicitor would normally suggest. Anything beyond that belongs in a private, written request to the reviewer, if you can reach them, asking for the review to be removed or corrected.

Route three: an anonymous reviewer

Many false reviews come from accounts with no real name. Since 1 March 2026 the Circuit Court can order an online intermediary to disclose who posted a statement, where that is in the interests of justice and the disclosure interest outweighs the interests against it (2026 Act, s.22). Before that date only the High Court could make such an order. What it costs and how long it takes are not published. The anonymous accounts guide covers the order, its limits, and what to do before applying.

Route four: the letter and the court

If the review stays up and the author is known, a solicitor's letter is the normal next step. A planning assumption, not a tariff: €300 to €1,000 for the letter, at published hourly rates of €250 to €400 (Irish Times, April 2026). The letter may invite an offer of amends under ss.22 and 23, a correction, apology and compensation, which many disputes end on.

Court is the Circuit Court for claims up to €75,000, judge alone, and most claims settle within that limit (RDJ, November 2025). The High Court has no cap and, for proceedings issued on or after 1 March 2026, a judge alone. The District Court and the small claims procedure do not cover defamation. Costs follow the event: if the claim fails, the business normally pays the reviewer's costs as well as its own. A contested Circuit Court trial is a planning assumption of €10,000 to €30,000 a side, which for most businesses is the figure that decides whether a single review is worth pursuing beyond the notice and the letter. Reported awards are collected at the awards register, and the cost guide sets out each stage.

A court can also make a correction order under s.30, which since 2026 must have the same or similar prominence as the original. For a review, that means a correction where the review was, not buried elsewhere.

If you are the reviewer

This section is for the person who wrote the review.

Start by separating what you said into facts and opinions. Opinions, honestly held and based on facts you can point to, are protected under s.20. Statements of fact are protected under s.16 if they are true, and you are the one who has to prove them. Saying it was the worst meal you have had this year is an opinion. Saying you were charged twice and refused a refund is a statement of fact, and you want the bank statement and the emails that show it.

Gather what you have now: receipts, booking confirmations, photos, messages with the business, the names of anyone who was with you. Keep the review as you wrote it; do not quietly edit it after a letter arrives without keeping the original. If, on reflection, part of the review states a fact you cannot back up, you can remove that part and leave the opinion. Under s.24 an apology is not an admission of liability.

If the business is a company, it has to show that your review caused or is likely to cause serious financial loss. That is a real hurdle for a single review and the company's letter should be read with that in mind. If a letter arrives, the deadline in it matters and so does your reply. The guides on receiving a solicitor's letter and on being pursued over a review you wrote cover what to do and what not to do. The offer of amends under ss.22 and 23 is available to you too: a correction and apology, offered early, is a defence if rejected unless you knew the statement was false, and the court weighs conduct after an offer when fixing costs.

The platform that hosts your review is in a different position again. A host may rely on innocent publication under s.27, which is why claims are brought against authors, not listings.

Where this leaves you

For a business: capture the review, report it on the platform and send an Article 16 notice, keep your reply factual, and if the review is false and still up, a letter inside the one-year clock. For a company, start gathering the loss evidence now. For a reviewer: sort fact from opinion and keep your proof. The notice builder drafts the platform notice or the written request. If the review is still live and the loss is real, talk to a solicitor with your screenshots, your records and your dates.