Google Maps reviews are a powerful tool for learning more about the businesses you’re near, and moderation is key to ensuring those reviews are actually useful. In recent weeks, though, Google has admitted to taking down some reviews that weren’t breaking any policies.
In a brief post this week, Google confirmed an error on its part that saw Maps reviews from “a set of Local Guides” were taken down mistakenly. This left the reviews as “unpublished” on accounts, despite nothing in the review actually breaking Google’s policies.
Google explains:
In the last few weeks, our protections took down more than expected policy abiding reviews from a set of Local Guides. We’ve also closely followed the conversations on Connect around unpublished reviews and we acknowledge that this change has affected a lot of your accounts.
Google says that it has updated its review protections on Maps to prevent this from happening again. Reviews that were taken down by mistake will also be automatically reinstated “over the next few weeks.” There’s an open form for those affected to request their review be reinstated as well.
More on Google Maps:
- Google Maps on Android readies planned charging stops for EVs
- Google Maps Fitbit app now works on Sense 2 and Versa 4
- Google Maps for Wear OS rolls out phoneless navigation on LTE watches [U]
Author: Ben Schoon
Source: 9TO5Google
