Are Fake Google Reviews Illegal in Australia?

2026-05-19

Yes. Fake Google reviews are illegal in Australia. They are not merely against Google's terms of service. They violate federal law. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has made this clear through enforcement actions, public guidance, and significant penalties against businesses caught posting or soliciting fake reviews.

But knowing they are illegal and actually doing something about it are two very different problems. Legal action is one path. It is not the only path, and for most businesses it is not the most practical one.

What Australian Law Says

The primary legislation is the Australian Consumer Law, specifically the provisions dealing with misleading or deceptive conduct and false representations.

Section 18 of the ACL prohibits conduct that is misleading or deceptive, or likely to mislead or deceive. Fake reviews, whether positive reviews posted about your own business or negative reviews posted to damage a competitor, constitute misleading conduct because they create a false impression of consumer sentiment.

Section 29 prohibits false or misleading representations about goods or services. A fake review that makes false claims about a business's products, service quality, or customer experience is a false representation under this section.

These are not obscure provisions. They are foundational consumer protection laws with real teeth.

ACCC Enforcement: Real Cases, Real Penalties

The ACCC has actively pursued businesses over fake review practices, and the penalties are substantial.

In recent years, the ACCC has investigated and taken action against businesses for buying fake positive reviews, incentivising customers to leave positive reviews without disclosure, and posting fake negative reviews about competitors. Penalties have reached into the hundreds of thousands of dollars for individual cases, with the potential for multi-million dollar fines for corporations.

The ACCC has also specifically warned businesses about the practice of suppressing or manipulating negative reviews. Selectively publishing positive reviews while hiding negative ones is itself considered misleading under Australian Consumer Law.

The message from the regulator is clear: the review ecosystem is a consumer protection issue, and fake reviews will be prosecuted.

Can You Take Legal Action Against Fake Reviews on Your Business?

If someone has posted a fake review about your business, you have legal options. The most common are:

Defamation. If the review contains false statements of fact that damage your reputation, you may have a defamation claim. Australian defamation law allows businesses with fewer than 10 employees (and individuals) to sue for defamatory publications, which can include Google reviews.

Misleading or deceptive conduct. If a competitor has posted fake reviews about your business, you can pursue action under the ACL. This can involve seeking injunctions, damages, and penalties.

Court orders for removal. Australian courts can order the removal of defamatory or unlawful content, including Google reviews. Court orders directed at Google have been successful in compelling removal.

These are real, enforceable legal remedies. But they come with significant practical limitations.

The Problem With Legal Action

Legal action against fake reviews is expensive, slow, and uncertain.

Cost. Engaging a lawyer to pursue defamation proceedings or ACL action typically costs between $20,000 and $100,000 or more, depending on complexity. For a small business dealing with a handful of fake reviews, this is often disproportionate to the harm.

Time. Legal proceedings take months, sometimes years. The fake review sits on your profile the entire time, damaging your rating and deterring customers. By the time you win, the financial harm may already be done.

Anonymity. Many fake reviews are posted by anonymous or pseudonymous accounts. Before you can sue someone, you need to identify them. This can require preliminary court proceedings to compel Google to reveal the reviewer's identity, adding cost and delay.

Enforcement. Even if you win a court order, enforcing it can be complicated. If the reviewer is overseas, enforcement becomes significantly harder.

Legal action is the right choice in some circumstances, particularly for serious, sustained attacks that cause major financial harm. But for the majority of Australian businesses dealing with fake reviews, it is a sledgehammer being used on a problem that has a more precise solution.

The Faster, Cheaper Alternative

Google's own content policies prohibit fake reviews. When a review violates these policies, Google will remove it. No court order required. No legal fees. No months of waiting.

The challenge is getting Google to act. As we have covered elsewhere on this blog, the self-reporting process has a low success rate for most business owners. The flagging tool is blunt, there is no room for evidence or context, and moderators make decisions without understanding the full picture.

This is where specialist review removal comes in. A service that understands Google's policy framework in depth can identify the specific violations, build the case correctly, and achieve removal through Google's own processes.

The result: the review comes down in days or weeks, not months or years. The cost is a fraction of legal fees. And the outcome is the same: the fake review is gone.

When to Choose Legal Action vs. Policy-Based Removal

Choose legal action when:

• The fake reviews are part of a sustained, deliberate campaign causing major financial harm
• You want to pursue damages, not just removal
• You need to establish a legal precedent or send a message
• The reviewer is identifiable and within Australian jurisdiction

Choose policy-based removal when:

• You want the review gone as quickly as possible
• The review clearly violates Google's content policies
• Legal costs would be disproportionate to the harm
• You need a practical solution, not a legal victory

For most Australian businesses, policy-based removal is the right first step. If that does not resolve the issue, legal action remains available.

Let CredBolt Handle the Practical Path

CredBolt specialises in policy-based Google review removal for Australian businesses. Our team of review policy specialists analyse your reviews through our proprietary analysis, identify every policy violation, and handle the removal process from start to finish.

At $99 per review, it is a fraction of the cost of legal action. And it works.

Get a free review analysis from CredBolt. We will tell you which of your reviews violate Google's policies and what it takes to get them removed. No legal bills. No waiting months. Just results.