--- title: "How to Report a Review on Trustpilot: A Business Guide" description: "Trustpilot lets businesses flag reviews for five reasons. See what each covers, how flagging works, what happens next and how to avoid misuse warnings." url: https://brandprotecto.com/blog/trustpilot-report-review updated: 2026-10-28 publisher: BRANDprotecto (info@brandprotecto.com) --- # How to Report a Review on Trustpilot as a Business [Home](https://brandprotecto.com) / [Blog](https://brandprotecto.com/blog) / Removal requests & policies Removal requests & policies # How to Report a Review on Trustpilot as a Business Trustpilot accepts five flagging reasons, and disliking a review is not one of them. Learn how to flag correctly, what happens during the investigation and why your flagging history is public. By the BRANDprotecto editorial team · Published October 28, 2026 · Last reviewed October 28, 2026 · 6 min read ## In short - Trustpilot accepts five flagging reasons; disliking a rating or disagreeing with a review is not one of them. - A review can be flagged for only one reason at a time, and a submitted flag cannot be edited. - Most flagged reviews stay visible during the investigation; only those flagged as harmful or illegal are hidden. - Your flagging history, including invalid flags and the star-rating split, is shown on your public company activity page. - Invitations must go to customers in the same way and at the same point, with no incentives or pre-screening. To report a review on Trustpilot, log in to your business account, find the review among your service reviews, select the flag icon and choose one of five reasons: harmful or illegal, personal information, advertising or promotional, not based on a genuine experience, or about a different business. Disliking the star rating or disagreeing with the review is not a valid reason, and Trustpilot makes the final decision. ## The five reasons Trustpilot accepts Trustpilot's [Guidelines for Businesses](https://corporate.trustpilot.com/legal/for-businesses/guidelines-for-businesses) (version 7.3, September 2026) list the reasons a business can flag a review. Each one has limits that are easy to miss. Reason What it covers What does not qualify Harmful or illegal Hate speech or discrimination, terrorism, threats or violence, obscenity, and defamation, which Trustpilot describes as a false statement that harms reputation and leads to significant financial loss An opinion, such as saying the service was disappointing Personal information Another person's name, phone number, email address, or photos or videos of others Information already on your Trustpilot profile or website, or the reviewer's own details Advertising or promotional Promotion of an unrelated business, links, promo codes and calls to action; spam and scams; reviews written solely about news or social media trends rather than a real experience; and promotion of misinformation or impersonation, a group in which the Guidelines include AI-generated content A review that simply mentions you or compares you with a competitor Not based on a genuine experience Reviews from people who had no real experience with your business A reviewer you don't recognize or can't find in your records About a different business Reviews that clearly describe another company, or that sit on the wrong one of your own profiles A review that is vague and doesn't name your business The genuine-experience reason needs particular care. Trustpilot points out that anyone with a genuine experience can review at any time, that an experience does not have to be a purchase, that reviewers do not need an invitation, and that many use a username instead of their real name. ## How to flag a review, step by step The FTC's consumer page [How To Report Suspicious Online Reviews](https://consumer.ftc.gov/articles/how-report-suspicious-online-reviews) summarizes the business path: sign in to your Trustpilot business account, go to Reviews and then Service Reviews, and use the flag icon on the review. Trustpilot's own pages add the details below. Labels change over time, so follow what your account shows. - Claim your profile if you haven't already. Trustpilot says flagging is easiest from a business account, although you can also flag without claiming by contacting Trustpilot. - Open the review and select the flag icon. - Pick one reason. According to [What happens after businesses flag reviews?](https://help.trustpilot.com/s/article/What-happens-after-businesses-flag-reviews?language=en_US) , a review can only be flagged for one reason at a time. - Add the facts that show the breach and submit. A submitted request can't be edited or deleted; to change it, you have to contact the Content Integrity Team. - Track the status from the flag icon under the review, or in the Flagging activity view under Manage reviews and Service reviews. ## If you don't recognize the reviewer, ask first Before using the genuine-experience reason, the Guidelines for Businesses let you ask the reviewer for more information, such as their name, a reference number, an email address or a phone number. Trustpilot tells the reviewer they have three days to respond, and the reviewer can choose not to. If you get no answer and still believe there was no genuine experience, you can then flag the review for that reason. **Example (illustrative):** Hi [Name], thank you for your feedback. We'd like to look into this properly, but we can't match it to an order. Could you share your order number or the email address you used when buying from us? Our support team at [support email] can also help. When a review is flagged as not genuine, Trustpilot says it runs the review through its detection software and takes it down if it looks suspicious. If you think the decision is wrong, you can reply with specifics, such as a product you don't sell or a location that doesn't exist, and Trustpilot will review it manually. A disputed review judged suspicious comes down while Trustpilot requests documentation from the reviewer; if no breach can be confirmed, it stays online. Trustpilot's [Guidelines for Reviewers](https://corporate.trustpilot.com/legal/for-reviewers/guidelines-for-reviewers) tell reviewers to keep documentation of their experience and explain that a recent experience typically means one within the last 12 months. ## What happens after you flag Each flag creates a ticket for Trustpilot's Content Integrity Team, which uses automated detection, specialists or both to assess it. The help article [What happens after businesses flag reviews?](https://help.trustpilot.com/s/article/What-happens-after-businesses-flag-reviews?language=en_US) describes the rest: - The review stays visible during the investigation, except reviews flagged as harmful or illegal, which are hidden. - If the reviewer needs to edit the review or provide documentation, Trustpilot contacts them and asks for action within three days. Some cases take several rounds. - A review stays online if it does not breach the guidelines, if there is not enough evidence, or if the reviewer fixes the problem. - A review is taken offline if it breaches the guidelines and the problem isn't resolved. Trustpilot says it doesn't delete reviews, so a review can be reinstated if the reviewer later provides documentation or updates it. If you disagree with the outcome, the Guidelines for Businesses say you can reply to the decision email explaining why, and then use the appeal link in the footer of that email. ## Flag consistently: your flagging is visible Trustpilot asks businesses to flag 5-star reviews for the same reasons they flag 1-star reviews, and it treats flagging too quickly, for the wrong reasons or without real consideration as misuse. Its guidelines list possible consequences of platform misuse, including blocked or suspended features in your business account, a Consumer Warning on your profile and a hidden TrustScore. Flagging is also public. Trustpilot's [Transparent Flagging](https://help.trustpilot.com/s/article/Transparent-Flagging-See-how-a-business-is-reporting-its-reviews?language=en_US) article explains that each company activity page shows, for the past 12 months, how often the business flagged reviews, the share of flags that turned out invalid, how flagged reviews split between positive and negative, and how many were put back online or taken offline. Anyone checking your profile can see whether you mainly flag negative reviews. Bulk flagging every critical review is a quick way to look bad on that page. If you're unsure whether a review is fake, document the signals first; our guide on [how to spot fake reviews](https://brandprotecto.com/blog/how-to-spot-fake-reviews) lists what to check. ## When the review is genuine, reply instead Trustpilot says it generally stays out of disputes about what happened between a reviewer and a business, unless the law requires otherwise. If a review doesn't breach the guidelines, it recommends replying and telling your side. Replies must stay polite and professional and leave out personal information, threats and aggressive language; otherwise Trustpilot takes them down. **Example (illustrative):** Hi [Name], we're sorry your delivery arrived late and that our updates didn't explain why. We've changed how we notify customers when a courier delay happens. If the issue isn't resolved yet, please reply to your order email or contact [support email] and we'll pick it up. Reviews belong to the people who wrote them, and they can edit or delete them at any time. Trustpilot suggests reviewers update a review once a problem is resolved, but says businesses should never pressure them to. For more wording ideas, see our [negative review response examples](https://brandprotecto.com/blog/negative-review-response-examples) . ## Invitations and the rules around them Reports and invitations are judged by the same principle: fairness. Trustpilot encourages businesses to invite customers, but its guidelines require invitations to be fair, neutral and unbiased: - Invite everyone in the same way and at the same point in the customer journey, with one invitation per experience. - Don't invite only people you know had a good experience, and don't send happy customers to Trustpilot while routing unhappy ones to a private channel, a practice often called [review gating](https://brandprotecto.com/blog/review-gating) . - Don't offer incentives such as discounts, promo codes, prize draw entries, refunds or freebies for writing or editing a review. - Don't suggest a positive rating, and don't collect reviews on business devices. - Don't pressure or threaten reviewers to write, edit or delete a review. In the US, the FTC's consumer reviews rule ( [16 CFR Part 465](https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-16/chapter-I/subchapter-D/part-465) ) adds legal limits on sentiment-based review incentives and on threats aimed at removing reviews; our summary of the [FTC fake reviews rule](https://brandprotecto.com/blog/ftc-fake-reviews-rule) explains them as general information, not legal advice. ## Frequently asked questions ### Does a paid Trustpilot plan change how flagged reviews are handled? No. Trustpilot's Guidelines for Businesses say flagged content is treated the same whether or not the business has claimed its profile or uses paid services. Its Guidelines for Reviewers add that businesses have no control over review removal, whether or not they pay. ### Can the same customer review my business more than once? Yes, if they have a new and unique experience. Trustpilot groups multiple reviews from one reviewer together with the newest on top. Only the most recent review counts toward your TrustScore, although all of them count toward your total number of reviews. ### Who is not allowed to review my business on Trustpilot? Reviewers must be over 18. Trustpilot also does not allow reviews from people with a special relationship to the business who are likely to be biased, which includes you, your immediate family, people working for your business and competitors. That rule applies to biased positive and biased negative reviews alike. ### Why is my business on Trustpilot if we never signed up? Consumers decide which businesses are reviewed. Trustpilot creates a profile page as soon as someone writes a review about your business, and the page is visible even if you never claim it. Trustpilot says it doesn't remove a business profile page or its reviews unless it has to, so claiming it is how you get a business account to reply to reviews. ## Sources - [Guidelines for businesses (version 7.3, September 2026) — Trustpilot](https://corporate.trustpilot.com/legal/for-businesses/guidelines-for-businesses) (checked October 28, 2026) - [Guidelines for reviewers (version 2.3, September 2026) — Trustpilot](https://corporate.trustpilot.com/legal/for-reviewers/guidelines-for-reviewers) (checked October 28, 2026) - [What happens after businesses flag reviews? — Trustpilot Help Center](https://help.trustpilot.com/s/article/What-happens-after-businesses-flag-reviews?language=en_US) (checked October 28, 2026) - [Transparent Flagging - See how a business is reporting its reviews — Trustpilot Help Center](https://help.trustpilot.com/s/article/Transparent-Flagging-See-how-a-business-is-reporting-its-reviews?language=en_US) (checked October 28, 2026) - [How To Report Suspicious Online Reviews — Federal Trade Commission (Consumer Advice)](https://consumer.ftc.gov/articles/how-report-suspicious-online-reviews) (checked October 28, 2026) - [16 CFR Part 465 — Rule on the Use of Consumer Reviews and Testimonials — eCFR](https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-16/chapter-I/subchapter-D/part-465) (checked October 28, 2026) Prepared by the BRANDprotecto editorial team with AI assistance and checked against the sources above. Platform rules and laws change: always confirm the current wording at the source. This article is general information, not legal advice. ## Not sure whether a review breaks Google’s rules? Answer eight questions in our free review check. You will see which Google policies may apply, what evidence to collect and how to report the review. If you want, an analyst checks it for you within one business day. [Check a review for free](https://brandprotecto.com/tools/review-removal-check) ## Related articles [Removal requests & policies What Evidence Helps When You Report a Fake Google Review Google's report form asks for a policy reason, not attachments. A short evidence file still helps you pick the right reason, write a precise appeal and recognize when a review is genuine. November 9, 2026 · 7 min read](https://brandprotecto.com/blog/review-reported-to-google-still-visible-what-evidence) [Removal requests & policies A Negative Facebook Recommendation on Your Page: What You Can Report and Remove You can't delete a customer's Facebook recommendation yourself. Here is what you can report under Meta's rules, how to reply, and what hiding reviews really costs. November 8, 2026 · 7 min read](https://brandprotecto.com/blog/facebook-recommendation-negative-page-report) [Removal requests & policies A Google Review Is About Politics or Something Unrelated to Your Service A review about an election, the news or the owner's views may break Google's off-topic rule. Here is how to tell, how to report it once and how to reply if it stays. November 7, 2026 · 7 min read](https://brandprotecto.com/blog/google-review-about-off-topic-political-issue)