What Trustpilot will and will not remove
Trustpilot removes a review when it breaks one of five rules. It keeps reviews that are harsh, unfair or wrong in your eyes. This guide lists both sides, using Trustpilot's own wording, with examples for health brands. We remove the first kind for health brands, and you pay per removal.
By James Tumbucon. Published · Updated . Reviewed against Trustpilot’s guidelines on
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Short answer
Trustpilot removes reviews that are harmful or illegal, contain another person's personal information, are advertising, are not based on a genuine experience, or are about a different business. It does not remove reviews because they are negative, disputed, rude, vague, or written by someone who never bought anything. The test is the rule, not the damage.
Key facts
Trustpilot removes reviews for five reasons: harmful or illegal content, another person's personal information, advertising, no genuine experience, or a different business.
Source: For which reasons can businesses flag service reviews?, Trustpilot Help Center
Trustpilot will not remove a review because it is negative, disputed, rude, vague, or written by someone who never bought anything.
Source: For which reasons can businesses flag service reviews?, Trustpilot Help Center
A person can review a business after browsing its website, a call or a chat. A purchase is not required.
Source: Who can write a review and when?, Trustpilot Help Center
Trustpilot moves reviews offline and does not delete them. A removed review can be reinstated if the reviewer responds later.
Source: What happens after businesses flag reviews?, Trustpilot Help Center
The five things Trustpilot will remove
These are the five reasons a business can choose when it flags a review. They come from Trustpilot's help article on flagging reasons.
| Reason | What it covers |
|---|---|
| Harmful or illegal | Hate speech or discrimination, terrorism, threats or violence, obscenity, defamation |
| Personal information | Another person's name, phone number, email address, or photos and videos of others |
| Advertising or promotional | Promotion of another business or product, promo codes, calls to action, political or religious campaigning, scams, spam, misinformation |
| Not based on a genuine experience | The reviewer was not eligible: a current employee, a competitor, a paid reviewer, an old experience, or a review Trustpilot's detection technology finds suspicious |
| About a different business | The review belongs on another of your domains, or clearly describes another company |
Trustpilot's automated systems also remove reviews without any flag. In 2024 it removed 4.5 million fake reviews, 90% of them automatically, according to its Trust Report 2025.
The ten things Trustpilot will not remove
Trustpilot states these limits in the same help article, under each reason.
| Trustpilot will not remove a review just because | Stated under |
|---|---|
| You dislike or disagree with it | Harmful or illegal |
| It criticizes your business | Harmful or illegal |
| It includes swear words | Harmful or illegal |
| It includes information that is on your Trustpilot profile or website | Personal information |
| The reviewer included their own personal information | Personal information |
| It mentions another business or compares you with a competitor | Advertising or promotional |
| The reviewer did not buy something from you | Genuine experience |
| You disagree with their version of events | Genuine experience |
| You think information is missing | Genuine experience |
| It is non-specific and does not mention your business's name | Different business |
There is also a time limit. Trustpilot says that, in general, it will not investigate whether a review is based on a genuine experience if the review was posted more than a year ago.
To test a single review against these two lists, use the Does this review qualify? tool.
The same complaint, on both sides of the line
Small differences in wording decide the outcome. These pairs use typical health brand reviews.
| Stays online | Can qualify |
|---|---|
| "The pharmacist was rude to me." | "The pharmacist, Jenna Ortiz, was rude. Her cell is 555-0199." |
| "A competitor's service is better." | "Use a competitor instead. Code SWITCH25 gets 25% off." |
| "I never got my order." | "I never ordered, but my sister did and she never got hers." |
| "This company is a scam, in my opinion." | "This company sold me pills with no active ingredient," when lot records prove that false and the loss is serious |
| "Terrible service." with no details | "Terrible service. Their sofa arrived broken," on a telehealth profile |
The left column is opinion and experience. The right column contains something a rule names: another person's contact details, an advertisement, someone else's experience, a false statement of fact, or a different business.
Who is allowed to write a review
Many flags fail because the business assumes reviewers must be customers. Trustpilot's reviewer rules, which summarize its Guidelines for Reviewers, are wider than that. A person can review you if they are over 18 and had a recent, genuine experience, such as:
- buying a product or service
- browsing your website, even without finishing a purchase
- a phone call, email exchange or online chat
- using a product someone else bought for them
The review must be about the reviewer's own experience and about something from the past 12 months.
A person cannot review you if they:
- were offered an incentive for the review
- own the business, work for it, or have an immediate family member who does
- work for a direct competitor
- are writing about a job interview or employment, not a customer experience
- are writing about a topic that is trending in the news, not their own experience
Those exclusions are where genuine experience flags succeed. "Not in our order system" is not on the list.
What Trustpilot does when you flag
Trustpilot's process is described in what happens after businesses flag reviews.
- A ticket is created. One reason per flag. Only reviews flagged as harmful or illegal are hidden during the check.
- The ticket is assessed. Trustpilot uses detection technology, specialists or both. If it needs the reviewer to edit or send documents, the reviewer gets 3 days, and there can be several rounds.
- You are told the outcome. The review stays online if there is no breach, if there is not enough evidence, or if the reviewer fixed the problem. It is taken offline otherwise.
Two details are easy to miss. A flag cannot be edited after you send it. And Trustpilot does not delete reviews, so an offline review can return if the reviewer responds later.
What to do with the reviews that stay
On most health brand profiles, the reviews that stay are the majority. They still affect buyers, so they still need work.
- Reply to each one. Keep it general, and never confirm that the person is a patient. See HIPAA-safe replies.
- Fix what repeats. Ten reviews about the same cancellation problem point to one fix.
- Invite every customer. TrustScore weighs recent reviews most. Invitations must be fair and neutral.
- Do not flag them anyway. Flagging reviews that follow the rules is Trustpilot's first example of misuse. Read the Consumer Warning guide.
How we use this in an audit
Our free audit applies the two lists above to your profile. You get every 1-star and 2-star review sorted into "can qualify", with the reason and the evidence needed, or "does not qualify", with the reason.
For the full service page, see Trustpilot review removal. To see where your profile stands, request a free audit.
This is the work behind our Trustpilot review removal service. You pay per removal, and the three packs and their prices are public.
Frequently asked questions
No. A business cannot delete a review on Trustpilot. It can flag a review for one of five reasons, and Trustpilot decides whether to take it offline. Only the person who wrote a review can delete it for good, through their own account. Source: the journey of reviews.
No. Trustpilot says it will not remove a review because you dislike or disagree with it, or because it criticizes your business. Source: Trustpilot's flagging reasons.
Not for that reason alone. Trustpilot's rules let people review a business after browsing its website, calling, emailing or chatting, even without a purchase. Source: who can write a review.
Not for swearing alone. Trustpilot lists swear words among the things it will not remove a review for. Severe profanity, threats, hate speech and obscene content fall under its harmful or illegal reason. Source: Trustpilot's flagging reasons.
It can. Another person's name, phone number, email address, photo or video counts as personal information. Trustpilot first asks the reviewer to edit the review. It will not act if the information is already public on your profile or website. Source: Trustpilot's flagging reasons.
Yes. Trustpilot moves reviews offline and does not delete them. If the reviewer sends documents or fixes the problem later, the review can be reinstated. Source: what happens after businesses flag reviews.
Primary sources used on this page
- For which reasons can businesses flag service reviews?. Trustpilot Help CenterLast verified
- Trust Report 2025. TrustpilotLast verified
- Who can write a review and when?. Trustpilot Help CenterLast verified
- Guidelines for Reviewers. TrustpilotLast verified
- What happens after businesses flag reviews?. Trustpilot Help CenterLast verified
- TrustScore and star rating explained. Trustpilot Help CenterLast verified
- Guidelines for Businesses. TrustpilotLast verified
- Action We Take. TrustpilotLast verified
- The journey of reviews on Trustpilot. Trustpilot Help CenterLast verified
Related
- How Trustpilot review removal works: we audit, flag and prove every removal
- Promo-code and affiliate reviews on Trustpilot: what supplement brands can flag
- Trustpilot API: what it can do, how to get access, and its limits
- Trustpilot flagging categories and success rates
- Trustpilot for businesses: the rules, the flagging tool and the score