No wonder some of our reviews get hidden!

[MortenCopenhagen]

Hi Guys, 

Yesterday Google published an interesting article called How we kept information on Maps reliable in 2021

I recommend you read it. It is very short.

• We blocked or removed more than 95 million policy-violating reviews
• We took down more than 1 million reviews that were reported directly to us.
• Our technologies and teams blocked or removed more than 190 million photos and 5 million videos that were blurry, low quality, or violated our content policies.

Such massive numbers of removed reviews and photos explain why so many Local Guides have experienced issues with their reviews and photos disappearing. 

In the big picture, I appreciate this effort even though a few perfectly good contributions get taken down also.  It is annoying when this happens, but overall it is much needed. 

The number of spammers is unbelievable:

• We stopped more than 12 million attempts from bad actors to create fake Business Profiles and nearly 8 million attempts from bad actors to claim Business Profiles that didn’t belong to them.

So no wonder the spam filters catch a few innocent LGs now and then.

Just some food for thought. 

Cheers 

Morten 

[Statler]

Hello Morten,

Thanks for all your indications on shadow banning and which reviews get hidden. Now I have written a negative review on a company which I would like to wish to warn about.

I have bought a motorized gate with from them but the motor doesn't work as advertised, they don't show up for appointments to fix it in time and have recently completely ignored my Whatsapp messages asking them to fix the issues. I have already deleted a previous review, rewrote it, checked all guidelines and I can't find anything wrong about it. It's a genuine user opinion, I live nearby, even used Google Maps for directions to their premises, etc. There's nothing, absolutely nothing fishy about it and I think users have the right to be warned. 

Would you mind having a look at it and let me know why it's shadowbanned? Thanks in advance
shorturl.at/dnsQY

[MortenCopenhagen]

Thanks for your reply, @Statler.

I can not see your hidden review because it is .... hidden 😅

Frequent edits might trigger the spam filter. Feel free to post the text in another reply below. 

Cheers 

Morten 

[Statler]

I hoped you would have superpowers, @MortenCopenhagen. My review is in Spanish (attached) and here is my reviewed Google translated text:

"They have sold me one of the most expensive gate motors on the market but it does not work properly. They do not want to give me a guarantee and since I have complained and asked them to change the motor they no longer answer my Whatsapp messages. The manufacturer says that I have to talk to the installer.

The quality of their locksmith work is also mediocre. After half a year, the door they have installed is falling apart. Never again "... Metal"."

 

[MortenCopenhagen]

@Statler

I don't see any obvious issues, but I can understand why the owner would like your review not be shown.

A few days ago I read a reply from one of the Google Moderators stating that Google will not try to solve such disputes. I think this could be signaling a change in policy. Previously we could just add or remove an extra space and the review would go public again. And this could go one for days until the Maps user or the owner gave up.

Your situation is different, I think. So maybe you just need to join the queue here:

Known issue: Unpublished reviews and photos on Google Maps. Make a reply to request your account also be investigated.

Best of luck
Morten

[Statler]

@MortenCopenhagen My review gets automatically shadowbanned. There is no interaction from the owner possible because it gets shadowbanned immediately. It's not so much about the review anymore but I would like to understand the underlying policy. 

Thanks for your indications. I will ask my account to get revised. 

[MortenCopenhagen]

@Statler 

The owner does not have to communicate to/with you to request your review removed due to policy violating content. He/she can not request your review removed just because he/she does not like it. 

You could check if you are also blocked from sharing public reviews on other places.

Cheers

Morten

[Statler]

@MortenCopenhagen  Well, I am not blocked from sharing public reviews on Google, for example: shorturl.at/nuD08 Once you confirm to have it read, I will delete it. 

[MortenCopenhagen]

Check, @Statler

I have seen it. That us good news, do just relax and wait for the manual review. It was reported to can take upto 5 weeks....

Cheers 

Morten 

[Statler]

@MortenCopenhagen  I have deleted this. So for everyone else who is reading this: I posted a review on Google which other people, but especially Morten, could see. I deleted the link and associated review as as it was for experimental purposes only. Nevertheless, I am worried that I can post a bogus reviews on the central office of Google in Madrid, which Morten and even the Pope himself affects but not on a dodgy company in a small village in Spain. 

There is space for improvement.