Google's Removal of Business Reviews: Causes, FTC Connection, and Impact
Posted on 2/11/2025 by WEO Media |
 Surge in Missing Google Business Reviews
In early 2025, many businesses noticed a sudden drop in their Google Business Profile review counts. Business owners reported losing anywhere from 10 to 50 reviews – often all high-rated 5-star reviews – seemingly overnight. These disappearances were widely reported across different industries and regions, indicating a broad global issue rather than an isolated incident. WEO media also was affected with over 10% of reviews disappearing. Numerous complaint threads on Google’s support forums echoed the problem, with one observer noting that Google “reduced at night the number of the reviews on the map almost everywhere,” suggesting a far-reaching event. The abrupt loss of reviews caused significant concern among businesses that rely on Google’s reviews for credibility and customer trust.
Speculation: Algorithm Changes or Regulatory Pressure?
Before Google provided any official explanation, users and industry experts formulated several theories about why reviews were vanishing. One prevalent hypothesis was that Google had initiated a mass purge of reviews as part of a crackdown on fake or policy-violating content. Google has long had policies against spammy, fraudulent, or incentivized reviews, and it regularly removes reviews that violate these guidelines. Some noted that the missing reviews were disproportionately 5-star ratings, leading to speculation that an updated algorithm might be targeting suspiciously perfect feedback.
Given the timing and scale, internally we discussed and outside experts wondered if the action was connected to rising regulatory scrutiny around online reviews. For instance, a forum discussion posited that the removals could be related to pressure from authorities in countries like the UK and Italy to fight fake reviews. In 2023, the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) secured commitments from Google to “make significant changes to its processes for tackling fake reviews” in order to protect consumers. Likewise, in the United States, the Federal Trade Commission’s new rules on reviews were top of mind – the FTC announced a final rule in mid-2024 banning fake reviews and testimonials, prohibiting the sale or purchase of reviews and enabling the agency to levy civil penalties for violations. This rule (effective October 2024) signaled that regulators were serious about clamping down on deceptive review practices. Observers theorized that Google might have proactively ramped up its review enforcement algorithms to align with these stricter regulations and avoid facilitating any misconduct.
Official Google Response: A Technical Glitch, Not Deliberate Removal
After a period of growing concern and absent any immediate clarification, Google finally issued an official statement addressing the situation. On February 10, 2025, Google acknowledged that the fluctuation in review counts was not an intentional purge but a technical issue. According to Google’s statement, “We’re aware of an issue affecting some Google Business Profiles, causing some profiles to show lower-than-actual review counts due to a display issue. The reviews themselves have not actually been removed. We’re working hard to resolve this and restore accurate review counts as quickly as possible”. In other words, the reviews were still in Google’s system; the problem was with how the totals were being calculated or displayed on the business profiles.
Google’s message also reminded users that, under normal circumstances, missing reviews usually indicate a policy violation (such as spam or inappropriate content). They directed concerned business owners to review Google’s content guidelines for reviews to understand legitimate reasons for removal. However, in this case, Google explicitly clarified that the sudden drop in reviews was a bug rather than a mass enforcement action – an important distinction that helped calm fears of wrongful permanent deletions. Google’s product experts (such as Google Business Profile Product Expert Joy Hawkins) further confirmed this was a known issue and that the team was actively working on a fix. The acknowledgement of a technical glitch meant that many of the lost reviews were expected to reappear once the issue was resolved.
Connection to FTC’s New Review Regulations
Despite earlier speculation, there is no direct evidence that the review removals were triggered by the FTC’s new regulations. Google’s official explanation made no mention of the FTC or any deliberate effort to comply with new legal requirements; it squarely identified a bug as the cause. The timing may have been coincidental, as the FTC’s fake review ban had only recently taken effect in late 2024. That said, it’s worth understanding the broader context: Google’s ongoing stance on fake reviews strongly aligns with regulatory aims.
As WEO Media's CEO, Cory Roletto posted on LinkedIn three months ago, the FTC’s final rule (effective October 2024) explicitly bans businesses from buying, selling, or manufacturing false reviews, and it empowers the FTC to seek hefty penalties against violators. This rule, along with parallel efforts by international regulators, underscores the importance of review integrity across all platforms. Google, for its part, has been continually bolstering its detection and removal of fake reviews well before the FTC rule was finalized. In a blog post, Google revealed that in 2023 alone it blocked or removed over 170 million reviews that violated its policies – a 45% increase in fake review takedowns compared to the previous year. They’ve deployed advanced machine learning algorithms to spot suspicious patterns (like an account posting the same review to multiple businesses or sudden spikes of positive reviews) and have collaborated with regulators to improve their systems. These efforts show Google’s commitment to combating review fraud, which dovetails with the FTC’s objectives of honest, trustworthy online reviews.
In summary, while Google’s mass review removals in this instance turned out to be a mistake rather than a policy enforcement, it exists against a backdrop of intensified scrutiny on review authenticity. Google’s increased vigilance (partly in response to regulators like the FTC and CMA) likely means that genuine policy-violating reviews will continue to be aggressively filtered out. However, the specific wave of review drops observed “currently” does not appear to be an intentional compliance measure for the FTC rule, but rather an unrelated technical hiccup.
How Widespread Was the Impact?
The incident proved to be highly widespread, affecting a large number of business profiles across different geographies. Evidence of the scope can be seen in the sheer volume of reports and discussions online. Google’s own support community saw dozens of help threads from business owners noting disappearing reviews (with titles like “Missing Google Reviews” or “My business page is losing reviews”). Industry forums and social media echoed similar stories, indicating that the problem was not confined to any single region or business category. For example, multiple local SEO experts observed the drop across many accounts they managed, and a tweet from a European business noted review count reductions “almost everywhere” on Google Maps.
The timeline of the reports also suggests a simultaneous, system-wide issue: many users noticed the drop around the same day (in early February 2025), rather than a gradual trickle. This points to a centralized change or glitch on Google’s side. Whether a mom-and-pop shop in North America or a service provider in Europe, businesses large and small found their hard-earned customer reviews temporarily missing. The impact was not only numerical (lower star averages or totals showing on profiles) but also emotional – causing confusion and panic among business owners who rely on social proof. Fortunately, with Google’s confirmation that the reviews were not deleted but only invisibly affected, businesses could expect their reviews to return, mitigating long-term damage. Google’s quick acknowledgment and promised fix helped assure users that the issue was being addressed, though it highlighted how critical these reviews have become to businesses’ online presence.
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