Legal Rights Regarding Google Reviews: What Business Owners in Germany Need to Know

As a business owner, you often feel powerless when faced with an unfair Google review. "There's nothing you can do." Many affected business owners hear this phrase. But it's not true. German case law has produced a series of landmark rulings in recent years that grant business owners clear rights against unlawful reviews.

From defamatory criticism to false statements of fact to reviews without genuine customer contact, German law provides effective protection in many cases. At the same time, the distinction between protected free speech and unlawful statements is complex.

This guide gives you an overview of your rights, the most important court rulings, and actionable steps. It does not replace legal advice but is intended to help you better assess your situation and make informed decisions.

The Basics: Freedom of Speech vs. Personal Rights

What Freedom of Speech Protects

Article 5 of the German Basic Law (Grundgesetz) guarantees the right to freely express one's opinion. This also applies to negative reviews. Every customer is allowed to publicly share their subjective experience, even if it is uncomfortable for your business.

Protected expressions of opinion:

• "The service was poor" (subjective assessment)
• "I am dissatisfied with the result" (personal experience)
• "The value for money is not right" (value judgment)
• "I would not go back" (personal recommendation)

These statements are covered by freedom of speech and generally cannot be removed, regardless of whether you consider them justified or not.

Where Freedom of Speech Ends

Freedom of speech has clear limits. It ends where the rights of others are violated, in particular the general right of personality and the right to an established and operating business.

Three categories of unlawful reviews:

1. False Statements of Fact

Opinions (subjective) are protected, while statements of fact (objectively verifiable) must be true.

False statements of fact are not protected by freedom of speech. Important: The reviewer bears the burden of proof. If they cannot substantiate the claimed fact, you have a right to have the review removed.

2. Defamatory Criticism (Schmähkritik)

Defamatory criticism occurs when a statement no longer serves the purpose of factual debate but is solely aimed at defamation. However, the threshold for defamatory criticism is high. German courts only recognize it in extreme cases.

Examples of defamatory criticism:

• Personal insults without any factual connection
• Degrading terms that serve only to humiliate
• Statements that are obviously not based on an actual experience

3. Reviews Without Customer Contact

A review requires actual business contact. Reviews from individuals who were never customers violate both Google's policies and personal rights.

The Most Important Court Rulings

BGH (Federal Court of Justice), 09.08.2022, Az. VI ZR 1244/20 (Duty to Investigate)

Significance: This ruling is a milestone for affected business owners.

Content: The BGH ruled that a substantiated doubt about actual customer contact is sufficient to trigger Google's duty to investigate. The business does not have to prove that the reviewer was not a customer; it is enough to present this plausibly.

Consequence: When a substantiated complaint is filed, Google must contact the reviewer and request a statement. If the reviewer cannot prove customer contact, the review must be removed.

BGH, 25.07.2024, Az. I ZR 143/23 (Identity Disclosure)

Significance: This ruling strengthens enforcement options against anonymous reviewers.

Content: The BGH clarified that Google is obligated under certain circumstances to disclose the name and address of the reviewer to the affected business.

Consequence: Business owners can legally demand the identity of anonymous reviewers in order to take direct action against the individual.

OLG (Higher Regional Court) Frankfurt a.M., 07.11.2024, Az. 6 U 90/24

Significance: This ruling defines who is permitted to offer commercial review removal services.

Content: The OLG classified the commercial removal of Google reviews as a legal service. This means: Only licensed attorneys are permitted to pursue the removal of reviews on behalf of third parties for payment.

Consequence: When choosing a service provider, keep this distinction in mind. Advising and reporting at the platform level (identifying policy violations, reporting to Google) is not a legal service. Legal enforcement (cease-and-desist letters, lawsuits), however, is.

Further Relevant Rulings

LG (Regional Court) Hamburg, 24.03.2017: Google must complete its review process for reported reviews within 9 days.

BGH, 01.03.2016, Az. VI ZR 34/15 (Jameda): Review platforms must delete reviews where no actual customer contact took place. These principles were later applied to Google.

OLG Hamburg, 23.11.2023, Az. 5 U 25/23: Confirmed the classification of commercial review removal as a legal service.

The Criminal Law Dimension

§ 185 StGB (Criminal Code): Insult

Pure insults in reviews, meaning degrading statements without factual connection, can be prosecuted under criminal law. Penalty: imprisonment of up to one year or a fine.

§ 186 StGB: Defamation (Üble Nachrede)

The dissemination of facts that are likely to make a person contemptible or to diminish them in public opinion is punishable as defamation, provided the fact is not demonstrably true. Penalty: imprisonment of up to one year or a fine.

Under § 186, the business does not have to prove the untruth. The reviewer must be able to prove the truth of their claim.

§ 187 StGB: Slander (Verleumdung)

The deliberate dissemination of false facts is punished significantly more severely as slander: up to two years of imprisonment, or up to five years if committed publicly (which includes online).

The reviewer must have known that their claim was false. This is harder to prove in practice, but is certainly possible in cases of obvious false statements.

Pay Attention to Deadlines

Insult and defamation are offenses that require a formal complaint. You must file a criminal complaint within three months of learning about the offense and the identity of the perpetrator. If you miss this deadline, your right to criminal prosecution lapses.

Step-by-Step Action Plan

Level 1: Reporting to Google

The first and simplest step. Report the review directly through your Google Business Profile as a policy violation.

Procedure:

1. Log into your Google Business Profile
2. Navigate to the relevant review
3. Click the three-dot menu and select "Report as inappropriate"
4. Choose the applicable category
5. Provide a factual explanation

Success rate: For clear policy violations (spam, fake reviews), the success rate is approximately 60–90%, depending on the quality of the report.

Level 2: Attorney's Cease-and-Desist Letter

If Google does not respond, an attorney specializing in internet law (Fachanwalt für IT-Recht) can send a formal cease-and-desist letter to Google.

Procedure:

• The attorney drafts a legal letter outlining the legal violation
• Recipient: Google Ireland Limited, Gordon House, Barrow Street, Dublin 4, Ireland
• The letter includes a deadline for removal

Success rate: Significantly higher than self-reported complaints, as Google treats attorney correspondence with higher priority.

Level 3: Interim Injunction

In urgent cases, an interim injunction can be obtained through the competent court, obligating Google to remove the review immediately.

Requirements:

• Clear legal violation (false facts, defamatory criticism)
• Urgency: you generally must act within one month of becoming aware of the review
• Making the claim credible (Glaubhaftmachung)

Consequence of non-compliance: Google faces regulatory fines of up to 250,000 euros or coercive detention.

Level 4: Lawsuit for Injunction and Damages

As a last resort, a full lawsuit can be filed. This can be directed against:

Google (as the platform operator):

• Removal of the review (injunctive relief)
• Disclosure of the reviewer's identity

The reviewer (if known):

• Injunction (permanent removal and prohibition of repetition)
• Damages (demonstrable loss of revenue due to the review)
• Retraction of the false claims

Level 5: Criminal Complaint

For criminally relevant reviews (slander, defamation), you can file a criminal complaint with the public prosecutor's office.

Please note:

• The three-month deadline for the criminal complaint
• Criminal proceedings can be lengthy
• The practical benefit (removal of the review) is limited through this route, since the criminal complaint primarily serves to hold the perpetrator accountable

GDPR as an Additional Protective Mechanism

The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR, known as DSGVO in Germany) provides an additional lever against certain reviews:

Article 17 GDPR, Right to Erasure: Under certain conditions, you can assert a "right to be forgotten" and request that Google delete personal data.

Use cases:

• Reviews containing personal data of third parties (names of employees, patients, clients)
• Reviews disclosing health data (specially protected data under Art. 9 GDPR)
• Reviews containing detailed descriptions that allow conclusions about the identity of third parties

Important for certain professions: Doctors, lawyers, therapists, and other professionals bound by confidentiality obligations must not even confirm in their responses to reviews that the reviewing person was a customer or patient. A violation can result in both professional regulatory and GDPR consequences.

Digital Services Act (DSA)

Since February 2024, the EU-wide Digital Services Act (DSA) requires platforms like Google to process complaints about illegal content more quickly and transparently. This means:

• Google must provide a functioning complaint system
• Complaints about unlawful content must be processed promptly
• Decisions must be justified
• An internal complaint system for appeals must be available

The DSA thus provides an additional legal framework that business owners can invoke when reporting unlawful reviews.

Practical Recommendations

Documentation Is Everything

Before taking legal action, secure all evidence:

• Screenshots of the review (including date, time, reviewer name, full text)
• URL of the specific review
• Proof that no customer contact took place (customer database, appointment calendar, invoice archive)
• Counter-evidence for false statements of fact
• Witness statements from employees (if relevant)

Cost-Benefit Analysis

Legal action costs money and time. Weigh the following:

Is the effort worthwhile?

• How much is the review actually damaging your business?
• How many total reviews do you have? (One negative review among 200 carries less weight than one among 10)
• Is the review clearly unlawful or a borderline case?

Gradual approach: Always start with the simplest level (reporting to Google) and only escalate when necessary. In many cases, a professional report at the platform level is sufficient and significantly more cost-effective than the legal route.

Important Notice

This article is for general informational purposes and does not constitute legal advice. For the assessment of your specific case and the enforcement of legal claims, please consult an attorney specializing in IT law or media law (Fachanwalt für IT-Recht oder Medienrecht).

We assist you in identifying policy violations and professionally reporting them to Google, at the platform level, not at the legal level. If needed, we are happy to recommend specialized attorneys from our network.

Conclusion: Business Owners Have Rights

German law provides strong protection for business owners against unlawful Google reviews. In particular, the BGH ruling on the duty to investigate from 2022 has significantly strengthened the position of affected businesses.

Not every negative review is unlawful, but false statements of fact, defamatory criticism, and reviews without customer contact can be removed. The reviewer bears the burden of proof for statements of fact and must be able to prove the truth. When a substantiated complaint is filed, Google has a duty to investigate and take action. Always take a gradual approach: start by reporting to Google, then escalate to an attorney's cease-and-desist letter, and finally a court injunction if necessary. And above all, secure all evidence early on, because documentation is crucial.

If you are unsure whether a review is unlawful and which steps would be advisable, we offer a free initial assessment. We analyze your review, identify potential policy violations, and recommend the best course of action, whether that means a platform report, legal consultation, or a combination of both.