Google review policy: offensive content, harassment and hate speech

The rule, in Google's words

These are four policies on Google's Prohibited and restricted content page. The offensive content policy reads:

Using Google products to attack other individuals or groups.

Content that is clearly and deliberately provocative.

Unsubstantiated allegations of unethical behavior or criminal wrongdoing.

Harassment covers "a specific threat of harm", "doxxing" and "unwanted sexualization or objectification of a person". Hate speech covers content that "is dehumanizing, belittling, or vilifies individuals or groups based on a protected characteristic". Obscenity and profanity covers "content using profanity or obscenity to offend other users or emphasize criticism".

What this rule does not cover

• Strong criticism in plain words. Google says: "We do allow content that describes negative experiences in a respectful manner."
• An accusation that comes with a description of what happened. That reads as an experience, not an unsupported claim.
• A mild swear word in passing.

Google's report page sets the general limit: "Do not report a review just because you disagree with it or dislike it."

Evidence that supports a report

• The words, quoted exactly.
• The target. A named member of staff makes a harassment case stronger than abuse aimed at "them".
• For an allegation, one line on what is missing: no visit described, no event, no date.

Examples

These examples are ours. They are written to show the rule and are not real reviews. The cards at the top of this page show one review that can qualify and one that stays.

How to report it

A business reports a review from its Business Profile or from Google's Reviews Management Tool. Google says evaluation typically takes several days, and each review gets one appeal.

Choose the reason that names the breach most closely, such as profanity, harassment or hate speech. If a review threatens a person, treat safety first: keep a screenshot, tell the staff member, and consider the police. The report to Google comes after that.

For health brands

Abuse aimed at named clinicians is common in weight-loss and hormone care, where patients are refused a drug or a dose. The refusal is a fair subject for a review. The threat or the slur that comes with it is not. Report the review as a whole: Google says it generally removes a full post when one part breaks the rules.

Where to go next

See the main Google review removal page for the process. Where the harm is a false statement of fact, read can you sue over a bad review before spending money on letters. The qualification tool checks a review against Google's policies in a few questions.

This is the work behind our Google review removal service. You pay per removal, and the three packs and their prices are public.