• Marketing Land
  • Sections
    • CMO
    • Social
    • SEM
    • SEO
    • Analytics
    • Display
    • Retail
    • MarTech
    • Resources
    • More
    • Home
  • Marketing Land
  • CMO
  • Social
  • SEM
  • SEO
  • Analytics
  • Display
  • Retail
  • MarTech
  • Resources
  • More
  • SUBSCRIBE

Marketing Land

Marketing Land
  • CMO
  • Social
  • SEM
  • SEO
  • Analytics
  • Display
  • Retail
  • MarTech
  • Resources
  • More
  • Home
  • Newsletters
  • Home
CMO Zone

Congress on the cusp of national review protection law

Bill seeks to prevent use of non-disparagement clauses to silence consumer reviews.

Greg Sterling on September 15, 2016 at 2:52 pm
  • More
review-rating-star-tablet-ss-1920

Two years ago, California signed into law what was popularly called the “Yelp bill.” It prohibited use of “non-disparagement” clauses in consumer contracts. Now, Congress appears on the cusp doing something similar.

Earlier this week, the US House of Representatives passed the Consumer Review Fairness Act (HR 5111). Like the California law, it prevents businesses from inserting non-disparagement language into terms or contracts with customers and consumers. The purpose of the Act is stated as follows:

To prohibit the use of certain clauses in form contracts that restrict the ability of a consumer to communicate regarding the goods or services offered in interstate commerce that were the subject of the contract, and for other purposes.

The Senate already passed a similar bill, which now needs to be reconciled with the House bill. It’s likely that will happen. The FTC would enforce the Act if it does become law.

The Congressional action responds to the increase in efforts by businesses and corporations to prevent consumers from writing critical reviews. Some businesses in the health and hospitality industries have tried to preemptively silence potential criticism with non-disparagement clauses in their contracts or boilerplate terms.

While sites such as Yelp, AngiesList, TripAdvisor, Google and other publishers are not liable for the content of consumers’ reviews, individual reviewers have been sued for defamation. There is a case in California that is troubling and could chill reviews notwithstanding the legal protections above.

It involves a “default judgment” against a Yelp review writer who didn’t show up in court to defend a defamation case. Yelp was ordered to remove the disputed review, despite not being a party to the action, and the fear is that unless the California Supreme Court overturns the lower court decision, aggressive businesses could routinely threaten litigation to compel removal of unfavorable reviews.


Opinions expressed in this article are those of the guest author and not necessarily Marketing Land. Staff authors are listed here.



About The Author

Greg Sterling
Greg Sterling is a Contributing Editor to Search Engine Land, a member of the programming team for SMX events and the VP, Market Insights at Uberall.

Related Topics

Channel: CMO ZoneSocial Media MarketingYelp

We're listening.

Have something to say about this article? Share it with us on Facebook, Twitter or our LinkedIn Group.

Get the daily newsletter digital marketers rely on.
See terms.

ATTEND OUR EVENTS

MarTech 2021: March 16-17

MarTech 2021: Sept. 14-15

MarTech 2020: Watch On-Demand

×

Attend MarTech - Click Here


Learn More About Our MarTech Events

April 13, 2021: SMX Create

May 18-19, 2021: SMX London

June 8-9, 2021: SMX Paris

June 15-16, 2021: SMX Advanced

June 21-22, 2021: SMX Advanced Europe

August 17, 2021: SMX Convert

November 9-10, 2021: SMX Next

December 14, 2021: SMX Code

Available On-Demand: SMX

Available On-Demand: SMX Report

×


Learn More About Our SMX Events

White Papers

  • The Six Principles of Building a Memorable Customer Experience
  • 5 Reasons Agencies Adopt Marketing Automation
  • How to Land Higher-Paying Clients: A 7-Step Framework to Grow Your Agency
  • B2B Marketing Trends Shaping 2021
  • State of Email Marketing 2021 Report
See More Whitepapers

Webinars

  • Crawl Your Way Towards Better Search Results With Dynamic Rendering
  • The AI Revolution Is Coming to Every Stage of Your Buyer’s Journey
  • The Fundamentals of Link Building for E-Commerce & Affiliate Sites in 2021
See More Webinars

Research Reports

  • Local Marketing Solutions for Multi-Location Businesses
  • Enterprise Digital Asset Management Platforms
  • Identity Resolution Platforms
  • Customer Data Platforms
  • B2B Marketing Automation Platforms
  • Call Analytics Platforms
See More Research

h
Receive daily marketing news & analysis.

Channels

  • MarTech
  • CMO
  • Social
  • SEM
  • SEO
  • Mobile
  • Analytics
  • Retail
  • Display

Our Events

  • MarTech
  • SMX

Resources

  • White Papers
  • Research
  • Webinars

About

  • About Us
  • Contact
  • Privacy
  • Marketing Opportunities
  • Staff

Follow Us

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Newsletters
  • RSS
  • Youtube

© 2021 Third Door Media, Inc. All rights reserved.