Legal Advice Needed - New Ratings Website

[smith.liam]

Hello people,

TripAdvisor and the likes are more commonly becoming the targets of law suits from disgruntled companies whom have had negative reviews posted on their site.

Given that I'm looking at setting up a similar user-review and ratings styles website and want to avoid law suits, I wanted to ask your advice:

Q: Do you know what legal and insurance requirements there are for a user-review style website listing other peoples reviews about a company?

Q2 Or can you advise a useful, inexpensive place can find out?

A couple of examples perhaps, a clause exempting the website from liability or liability cover for damages to reputation.

Any help would be massively appreciated,

Regards

Liam

 

[EDRIAT]

I'm afraid I can't help you, but I'm looking at launching a website of a similar concept and am therefore also interested in the answers toi the questions you've posed.

 

[The Resolver]

This is a growing problem. Competitors and ex-staff or others with a grudge can post false and defamatory reviews. Also the subject of reviews can also post false positive reviews

T&cs can only go so far. Yes, you should have the exclusion and require reviewers to indemnify you from false and defamatory reviews (and you must make sure all visitors click to accept the terms). Whilst such an exclusion is of dubious validity against someone the subject of a defamatory/false review, in any event the exclusion cannot possibly protect you from companies which provide the services that are the subject of reviews who have not visited your site (others may report the adverse/false review or staff may visit the site in their personal names without authority to bind the employing company).

Ideally, but I appreciate it may lower the size of your community, you should require all posting reviews to be signed up as members with some ID so they can be identified in case of problems-a good safety net to discourage false reviews and to enable you to have some chance of enforcing an indemnity. You should also, ideally, ask them to provide some evidence, if possible eg hotel booking reference, to prove their use of the service.

You must have a clear policy to take down reviews once a complaint has been received that claims it is defamatory and/or false as else you can be equally as liable as the person posting the review. Do not monitor revies as the law then says you may implicitly 'know' of obviously defamatory reviews.

THE MOST important step is to operate a proper system for resolving disputes. This is the mistake of Trip Advisor and one reason why they are being sued. I provide such ODR (online dispute resolution) systems (have just launched one this week or peopleperhour.com ) and am working closely right now with the company in the States who designed all the feedback complaint systems for eBay. PM me to talk further.

 

[Rasta Pickles]

You must have a clear policy to take down reviews once a complaint has been received that claims it is defamatory and/or false as else you can be equally as liable as the person posting the review

The biggest problem I can see is "what is defamatory?"

If I post truthfully that there were cockroaches in the dining room of a hotel I stayed at and the hotel chain threatens the site owner with a defamation action unless the post is removed, how does the site owner know (a) whether I'm telling the truth or (b) whether it's just the hotel chain flexing its corporate muscle and protecting its revenues?

 

[logicfusion]

The implications above have always scared me away from starting some form of reviews site.

Even if I had disclaimers in place, and a 'system' for dealing with complaints.

Within the fore mentioned complaint system, I would need to make a decision on whether I considered the review potentially unlawful / libel.

This is a decision where I'd really have to be on the money so to speak? Get this wrong, and my family home could potentially be lost having to repay the other sides legal costs.

As much as I'd love to run a review site. why on earth would an individual want to take such a risk?

I don't know if running a review site through a Ltd company would offer any form of shield against the massive legal costs one could incur.