Could you be sued for an online review?

Whether you're sharing your experience or researching a business or product, online reviews can be helpful. But these short, published online records can be hugely problematic. 

Online reviews are bound by defamation laws to protect reputations. A defamatory statement is one likely to harm a person's reputation. For it to be defamatory of a company, the bar is higher – it has to be likely to cause serious financial harm to that company.

So the short answer is yes: it is possible to be sued for an online review. 

This shouldn’t stop you from sharing your truthful experience, especially if you're warning others about a rogue business or shoddy product. But knowing how to operate on the right side of the law is crucial.

Here, Which? examines how you could be sued for a bad review and explains how to safely share your experiences online.

Libel and the truth

Libel is a form of published defamation and can include making negative statements about a company or a person.

A review of a company could be libellous if it causes or is likely to cause ‘serious financial harm’ to the company. This is a concept that lawyers have spent a lot of time debating in court, and what is considered serious to one company could be just a drop in the ocean to another.

It would take an awful lot of financial harm to have a serious impact on a company such as Meta or Google, but for small independent businesses, it could be as simple as losing one customer. If your review causes others to think less of a person (for example, an employee at that company), you could be on the hook for libel.

There are defences available to you, though – the most obvious one being that the statement you made is true. You’re also allowed to publish your ‘honestly held opinion’, provided it’s based on facts.

‘I was threatened with defamation over a Google review’

In 2021, Daniel (not his real name) left a Google review about a letting agent he rented a room with.

‘There were multiple issues during the tenancy, including delayed deposit protection, missing statutory documents and repairs not being dealt with. I raised a formal complaint at the time and was paid £300 in compensation, along with my full deposit,’ he explained.

Daniel wrote a review of the agent on Google, detailing his experience with maintenance requests not being listened to and deposits not being protected in time. He warned against avoiding this agent and included screenshots of his formal complaint to the company, where he went into more detail about his grievances.

To his surprise, in January 2026, he received a letter from a solicitor representing the letting agent, claiming that the review was defamatory and demanding that he remove it, which also implied legal proceedings might be pursued.

Daniel shared this letter with Which?. In it, the solicitor disputed the accusations in the review, stating that they were defamatory and malicious, amounting to libel. It concluded that Daniel had to remove the review to avoid further legal action, including court action.

As there’s a 12-month limitation period for defamation claims, any legal letters sent after this period regarding a review can be ignored. 

‘I had to sign a contract forbidding bad reviews’

Jamie (not his real name) bought a van for £10,000, which broke down after 24 hours due to an undisclosed issue, which was found when the van company fitted a replacement engine.

Jamie claims he was only informed that the van had been fitted with a new engine after purchasing it. He took it back to the garage, where they disclosed that it had been fitted with a new engine, causing the breakdown.

‘I demanded a refund, which they agreed to but only if I signed a settlement contract, which included a clause agreeing not to post negative reviews,’ Jamie told Which?.

Jamie shared the contract with Which? and it explicitly stated not to post any negative reviews from any member of his family or friends on social media, or to speak against the company. Jamie reluctantly signed the contract and received his refund, but made an anonymous account and left a review on Google to warn others.

Jamie explained: 'To my shock, the business not only knew it was me, but it also had the review reported, even though all it had in it was factual evidence, written in a non-biased way. They also replied to my review, exclaiming how they would never have such a clause in their agreement and that I was fabricating the whole thing about the engine.'

The review was taken down after being reported.

Companies must not mislead you about your rights, under the Consumer Rights Act, to a refund, repair or replacement. These remedies shouldn’t be offered under the condition of removing reviews or not writing honestly about your experience.

Under the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act (DMCC Act), businesses are banned from publishing consumer reviews in a misleading way. Preventing honest reviews could be considered misleading under the Act because it doesn’t give consumers an accurate picture of the brand. 

'The court dismissed the claim'

When Sarah (not her real name) bought a laptop for her partner as a gift, her partner noticed some issues after trying to use it and believed the laptop had been mis-sold.

He believed the hard drive was advertised as much faster than it actually was, affecting how the laptop ran, which he discovered by running tests. He also believed that the condition and configuration were misadvertised, and left a review expressing his disappointment.

Around a year and a half later, the company contacted Sarah asking for information about her partner, including his real name and place of work. Shortly after that, they received an email saying that their Trustpilot review needed to be removed.

Sarah told Which?: ‘It was a formal notice regarding defamatory and misleading statements. They demanded we immediately remove or retract the Trustpilot review in full, or it may result in formal legal action.'

Then, they received a Letter Before Action (LBA), a letter giving a deadline to resolve the issue before court proceedings are initiated, claiming defamation and harassment. It again demanded that the Trustpilot review be permanently deleted. It also demanded £500, and sent a cease and desist order from making any more statements online regarding the company.

Sarah then left a review explaining her side of the story, and her partner was sent a civil court claim for defamation and harassment. The company demanded more than £900, but the court dismissed the case.

A court generally won’t allow a claim in defamation to proceed if the defamatory statement complained of was made more than a year before the claim is issued.

So, if you wrote a review about a company more than 12 months ago, the time limitation is likely to have expired. Don’t be tempted to write another review, though – this restarts the clock on a defamation claim. But it’s also worth knowing that a company shouldn’t be threatening you with proceedings after that period has ended.

What to do if you’re threatened with legal action

Unfortunately, defamation laws can be misused by companies and individuals who simply don’t like what’s been written about them.

It’s not unusual for people to receive legal threats demanding that reviews be removed or amended. Often, the threat of legal action can intimidate the reviewer into deleting their review, even if it’s accurate and fair.

Threats aren’t the only tactic used – sometimes you might be offered incentives or resolutions in exchange for removing a negative review. The DMCC Act bans unfair business practices, such as publishing, commissioning and submitting fake or incentivised reviews.

It’s also unlawful for a company to mislead a consumer by claiming they can only receive a refund they’re legally entitled to if they sign some kind of contract prohibiting them from writing an honest review of their experience.

If you receive a legal letter regarding an online review you left, you may wish to seek independent legal advice before you respond.