I would like to open a discussion on a specific scenario to help us all understand the best practices and continue making Google Maps better, more accurate, and safer for everyone.
Recently, a local establishment in my area was officially shut down by the state hygiene control authority. The business in question is:
According to the official government authority report, this establishment was closed on July 24, 2026. You can review the official publication and evidence here:
Since our goal as Local Guides is to keep map data truthful and reliable, I would love to hear your thoughts and insights on the following questions:
How should we properly report a place closed by a government/hygiene authority? Should we suggest an edit to mark it as “Temporarily closed” or “Permanently closed”? Is there a way to attach official government links as proof to speed up the verification process?
Are reviews posted after the official closure date irrelevant? Since the establishment was legally shut down on July 24, 2026, and cannot operate, should any new reviews appearing after this date be considered irrelevant, misleading, or potentially fake?
Thank you all for joining the discussion and for your continuous effort to make Google Maps better!
Hi @Zdenek, this is a very practical and interesting scenario to discuss
Reporting the closure: I completely agree with @WilfriedB that marking it as “Temporarily closed” is the best approach right now. In many cases, hygiene authorities allow an establishment to reopen once they rectify the violations and pass a new inspection. If it is later confirmed that they lost their license completely, it can be updated to “Permanently closed”. While there isn’t a direct way to attach URL links to standard map edits for verification, if a Local Guide happens to take a photo of the official closure notice on the restaurant’s door and uploads it, that can sometimes help the automated system verify the edit much faster.
Post-closure reviews: It is a bit tricky, but not all reviews posted after July 24 2026, would automatically be irrelevant. Many users visit a place but forget to write their review until weeks or even months later. Therefore, a late review might just be a delayed reflection of a past visit. However, if a reviewer explicitly claims to have visited and eaten there after the closure date, that would be highly suspicious misleading and likely fake.
Thank you for being so vigilant about keeping the map safe and accurate!
thank you for the comprehensive view of the matter @Ayaanali
I don’t understand your sentence - Even publishing the name and the reason of closure here, I’d consider as one step too much. @WilfriedB Could you explain why you wrote that, thank you?
Hi @Zdenek, you are very welcome! I am glad my perspective was helpful to you. Wilfried brings up a very valid and interesting point about the legal concerns as well. It just shows how tricky these closure situations can be for us Local Guides to navigate. Thanks again for starting such a great and important discussion!
You might be overthinking this a bit @Zdenek. I’d simply mark it as Temporarily Closed, and assume they’ll do whatever the authorities stipulate and then reopen again. No need to find a way to publish all the sordid details.
I just wanted to let you know that I removed the accepted solution that you marked and selected @Ayaanali’s first comment as a solution to your question.
The previously marked solution was your last comment which doesn’t include the solution and information to your question, @Zdenek. If you feel other comment should be marked as solution, please let us know.
