It's now illegal in the US to punish customers for posting bad web reviews

[FarCenter]

President Obama has signed into effect a new law that bars businesses from punishing customers for giving bad reviews.

The Consumer Review Fairness Act (HR 5111) voids any contract that involves prohibitions or penalties related to poor online reviews.

The aim of the bill, written by Reps. Leonard Lance (R-NJ) and Joseph Kennedy (D-MA) is to stop companies from imposing penalties on consumers who would leave negative comments on sites such as Yelp.

"Consumers in the 21st century economy should be able to post, comment and tweet their honest and accurate feedback without fear of retribution," Lance said of the bill.

"Too many companies are burying non-disparagement clauses in fine print and going after consumers when they post negative feedback online."

Those review sites have long been at odds with local businesses who have accused Yelp and others or leveraging poor reviews (often claimed to be fake) as a way to shake them down for payments.

This has lead some business to adopt extreme measures against customers who may look to give less than stellar ratings, including lawsuits and fines as retribution.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/12/15/obama_signs_bill_to_protect_bad_reviews/

[metroins]

1. Yelp removes good reviews all the time

But leaves bad ones. It hasn't happened to my business, but I've left other businesses legit reviews and later on they tell me Yelp removes them for some reason. Yelp's algorithm sucks.

I'm not sure if I like this bill; there's also times when all of a site "swarm" a business and downgrade it's reputation.

Like when that bakery wouldn't bake the gay couple's cake. Nobody should be leaving a bad review if they haven't been there.

I wonder if this law prohibits lawsuits for defamation in untrue reviews?

[DK504]

2. Three years to late for me. But YEA!

Hope it is retroactive. I got sued and had to cough up thousands becasue I wrote an honest review. They use the 21 page agreement page to bury the "you can't say anything bad about our crappy product."

I'll have to contact the FTC attorney that wants me to go after the same company for illegal gag rules. I want to bury these people.