Japanese court orders Google to delete critical reviews from Maps

[bill]

http://techcrunch.com/2015/04/10/japan-google-maps-reviews/ [techcrunch.com]

Japanese Court Orders Google To Delete Critical Reviews From Google Maps

There’s troubling news in Japan today, after Google was told to delete two critical customer reviews from its Google Maps service.

The Chiba District Court today issued a preliminary injunction forcing the U.S. internet company to remove two anonymous reviews for an undisclosed medical clinic in the country. While they document negative customer experiences at the clinic, neither review violates the policies that Google has in place for user generated content within the Maps service.

[buckworks]

It's hard to say what I think of this without knowing the reviews in question. Were they legitimate negative feedback or were they libellous?

There's a fair bit of idiocy in the world of reviews and I'm not sure we should automatically and reflexively deem it "troubling" that a business was able to turn to the courts to get some content removed,

[bill]

I think they're more worried that this removal didn't just affect Google Japan, but was put in place globally. So a local court's decision could affect everyone. It may just be that they thought Japanese language comments based on a local Japan businesess' Maps listing allowed them to unilaterally remove them.

[bill]

http://searchengineland.com/google-japan-ordered-to-remove-negative-reviews-based-on-thin-evidence-218388 [searchengineland.com]

Google Japan Ordered To Remove Negative Reviews Based On Thin Evidence

It appears, however, that the doctor-plaintiff simply issued a formal denial and that was enough to support the court’s decision. If that is indeed the case then this decision has potentially broad and very negative implications. Any disgruntled professional or business owner in Japan, confronted with critical reviews, could potentially invoke the decision and follow a similar procedure to get the reviews removed.