Law firm Clarke Willmott is calling on Google to do more to crack down on fake and malicious reviews following a spate of scathing online comments it believes were made using false accounts.
Over the course of five days the firm was alerted to a number of one-star reviews on Google, all directed at its conveyancing service and all from newly created accounts with no other activity.
Once the “reviews” were spotted, all were responded to as well as being reported to Google through the tech giant’s official channels. However, the reviews have remained online.
“Having carefully looked into this we are confident these are malicious reviews, possibly from a single person using multiple fake accounts,” said Martin Palmer, Director of Marketing at the firm.
“These are clearly false statements. Our reputation is everything to us and we won’t tolerate baseless accusations made anonymously and with the clear intention of harming our good name.”
He added: “We believe Google, as the owner of the platform on which these reviews are published, should do more to stamp out obviously faked accounts. As a minimum they need to make it easier for such reviews to be taken down, while ensuring those who do make such statements online are accountable for their potentially actionable comments.”
Since the reviews were posted online Clarke Willmott said it had carried out an internal review but, so far, that investigation had not found any connections between the claims made and the work carried out by its conveyancing teams.
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