Whilst taking on major corporations is never easy, there are signs that even on the internet, they can’t get away with everything.
Expert online defamation lawyers commenting on the group defamation action being led by KwikChex against TripAdvisor know that in the USA in particular, it is difficult to get a result against ‘review’ and ‘feedback’ sites. But in this case, KwikChex is claiming that there have been abuses that fall outside of the normal defence of ‘user generated comment.’
In an article published by Beth Kormanik of Hotel Interactive.com, the following was stated:
Bill Hart, an attorney with the Manhattan firm Proskauer who specializes in technology issues, said situations similar to the “Hotel Horror” email could be in a “gray area” of the law. In general, sites cannot go beyond publishing user statements without giving up their immunity, he said. If they make conclusions from the reviews, it could be problematic.
and here is another from Jack Lerner, a professor at the University of Southern California Law School
‘The law would not protect sites that edit the substance of a user’s comment or that induce the content.‘
The KwikChex response to the article is “We already have what is the first truly robust defence system against this severe problem that affects both reputable businesses and consumers – but will be going far further – it is our belief that the mistakes that TripAdvisor have made undermine their integrity to such a degree that we can use them to leverage serious change. The fundamental issue is that we have proven you cannot trust TripAdvisor themselves to not produce damaging assertions unjustifiably against reputable businesses – so how can you trust anything else on their site at present? Or to put it another way – when the saint is caught sinning, all faith is lost.”
Link to the ‘Promote & Protect’ KwikChex All Rounders service for hotels and restaurants
Link to the article on Hotel Interactive.com
A group defamation action against TripAdvisor is being organised by online reputation and reassurance resource, KwikChex.com.
KwikChex statement:
Following a rapidly increasing number of enquiries from the hospitality industry about posts on TripAdvisor, which we investigated in detail, we have clearly established that there are a number of elements within the TripAdvisor business model that are seriously flawed and which should be corrected in order to avoid damaging the reputation of reputable businesses with false allegations and to prevent misrepresentation to consumers
Approaches to Trip Advisor by owners suffering allegations and misrepresentation and by KwikChex have been met with intransigence on the part of TripAdvisor.
We are particularly concerned about the extent to which TripAdvisor proactively influences consumers – which falls way outside any defence of ‘User Generated Content’. The number of extremely serious allegations from posters unverified as even being customers is also worrying. These are not reviews on service, quality of food or ambiance – they are unsafe and often unfounded accusations of criminality and personal injury for which there appears no evidence whatsoever. Whilst we have some concerns about other online ‘feedback resources’, we have never seen anything such as this in terms of volume, severity and the influence being wielded by the publisher. It is particularly serious for many of the smaller, independent businesses being affected. Other aspects of the operation also appear to actively discriminate against particular businesses – and this is exacerbated by the prolific use of ‘trusted source’ phraseology.
The action is included within our specific service for hotels and restaurants, which focuses on promoting and protecting reputable businesses. We started with 120 business owners, but the number affected even at the most severe level is tens f thousands, so we believe that the final figure we will be assisting is going to be very substantial indeed. We do hope that TripAdvisor, like other businesses we are dealing with that publish online feedback, will take on board the fact that corrections to their current operating procedures are necessary, but have taken legal counsel in preparation for a class action if required.
Details of the case against TripAdvisor can be found on this link to KwikChex
And details of the full Promote & Protect service for hotels and restaurants can be found here
