Transparency Report
 Home
About
FAQ
Security and privacy
Requests for user information
Google Safe Browsing
Email encryption in transit
HTTPS encryption on the web
Android ecosystem security
Combating Child Sexual Abuse Material
Content removal
Content delistings due to copyright
Government requests to remove content
Requests to delist content under European privacy law
YouTube Community Guidelines enforcement
Removals under the Network Enforcement Law
YouTube Copyright Transparency Report
Google Maps Content Trust & Safety Report
Additional reports
PDF Download Center
Political advertising on Google
Traffic and disruptions to Google
Information about EU Monthly Active Recipients
VLOSE/VLOP Transparency Report under the EU DSA
Online Platform, Hosting Service and Intermediary Service Provider Transparency Reports
Privacy policy
Transparency Report

Featured protections

Here we highlight some of our built-in protections that help keep user-generated content on Google Maps helpful and reliable.

Fighting fake reviews Keeping content helpful Additional Safeguards

Fake and misleading reviews are an industry-wide challenge that can erode trust and undermine the usefulness of online platforms. We take swift action against fake reviews and invest heavily in protections to remove them from Google Maps.

Fake engagement can take many forms. Some reviews are simply fabricated, written by people who never visited the business. Others are attempts to manipulate ratings, such as a business soliciting positive reviews in exchange for money or discounts, or offering incentives to get consumers to remove or revise negative feedback. Reviews can also be manipulated by individuals creating multiple accounts to sabotage or boost a place’s rating. Broadly speaking, we do not permit any content that does not reflect a genuine experience at the place in question.

How we detect fake reviews

Detecting fake engagement is a complex policy enforcement challenge, as it’s rarely obvious simply by looking at the content of the review. To address this, we utilize a variety of cutting-edge tools and techniques.

Most fake reviews are immediately detected and removed by our systems. Our machine learning models are trained on extensive datasets of both known fake and genuine reviews, which enables them to identify patterns and anomalies indicative of fraudulent activity. Our models analyze multiple factors, including account-level context to spot potential connections to other suspicious accounts and paid review operations, as well as patterns at the place itself, such as a sudden influx of 5-star reviews or situations where a conflict of interest or incentive may result in a biased review.

If a review is flagged by our community, we may also rely on our highly trained team of content reviewers to make a decision based on our policies.

While we’ve made significant progress in this area, we know that scammers continue to evolve — and we will too. Our teams continue working around the clock and investing in the latest technology to keep contributed content on Google Maps authentic and reliable.

Responding to businesses that engage in fake reviews

We take fake and incentivized reviews on businesses very seriously. If a Business Profile is repeatedly found to violate our fake engagement policy, we may place restrictions on it, in addition to removing the fake reviews. Restrictions can include anything from not being eligible to receive new reviews to unpublishing all existing reviews for a set period of time.

We're also continually rolling out new measures to increase consumer trust and crack down on those who try to cheat the system. For example, when a Business Profile has a restriction applied, a consumer alert will appear on the page to let people know that suspicious reviews have been identified and removed.

Owners of claimed Business Profiles are notified of restrictions and have the opportunity to appeal the decision if they believe our evaluation is incorrect. Our team of analysts oversees the restrictions process carefully so that they are applied appropriately.

These measures help create a level playing field for businesses on Google Maps.

2024

Fake and misleading reviews removed
188M

Total number of Local Reviews removed for violating our policies related to fake engagement.

Unless otherwise noted, data in this report is global. Data included for each year represents a 'snapshot' of content published or removed as of January 31st of the following year.