Can a company sue you for a bad review in Australia? Here's what the law actually allows in 2026 — defamation, injurious falsehood, ACL claims, and when going legal is worth it.
Ding. You've received a notification — your business has a new online review. Great. Until you read it. It's bad. It's brutal. And as far as you can tell, it's not even true.
How do you remove that bad online review? Can a company sue you for a bad review in Australia? What can you do to defend your business?
Here's the order things should happen:
- →Take a deep breath and detach yourself personally from the review.
- →Work out whether you can use the negative review to your advantage.
- →Respond to the review.
- →Learn how to request to remove the review.
If the review can't be removed and you genuinely believe it's fake or malicious — that's when legal options come into play.
Localsearch spoke with lawyer and Associate Professor at Bond University, Dr Francina Cantatore, to find out what types of legal action a business may be able to take over a bad review, when to consider going legal, what you need to do when building a case, and how to get free legal advice as a business.
Important: This article is for general information only and does not replace professional legal advice. Australian defamation law has been updated significantly since the original version of this article — including major Stage 2 reforms commencing across most states from 1 July 2024. Please contact your local business legal service for advice specific to your circumstances.
When should a business go legal over a bad review
Dr Francina Cantatore advises businesses should be certain the review is false or malicious before instigating legal proceedings, as it can be costly to pursue. If the reviewer has detailed their opinion of an experience or the truth, you generally cannot pursue legal action against them.
Legal action should be the last step a business takes when they receive a negative review.
"The cost of claiming defamation or another claim against a negative review can run into the tens of thousands of dollars in legal fees, depending on the case," says Dr Cantatore. "However, if there is no other path, knowing your options before you speak to a legal professional is a good place to start."
You may wish to consider a legal claim if the review:
- →Strays from the truth.
- →Expresses an opinion without an actual basis.
- →Could be interpreted in more than one way.
- →Is misleading.
Remember, claims such as these may attract media attention. It's something you may wish to take into consideration before proceeding, and whether it may be helpful or harmful to your business and its reputation.
What type of legal action can a business take
Under the Australian Consumer Law (ACL), consumers are protected in leaving honest and opinion-based online reviews. This does mean businesses have a leg to stand on if a dishonest or defamatory review has been left, but it also means there are regulations they must abide by.
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"The type of legal action a business may be able to take over a bad review will depend on what state the business operates in and where they are located," says Dr Cantatore. "For instance, in Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia, a business must issue a Concerns Notice to the reviewer before they will be able to instigate court proceedings for defamation."
There are three main legal claims for online reviews businesses may wish to investigate:
- →Defamation claim.
- →Injurious falsehood claim.
- →Australian Consumer Law claim.
Where you have evidence that any of the three potential claims may have occurred, it is worth sending the details to the review platform in question before seeking legal advice. Review platforms are required to adhere to ACCC regulations, so they may be able to remove the review with no legal action if sufficient evidence is provided.
What's changed since the Stage 2 defamation reforms in 2024
Australian defamation law has shifted since this article was originally published. The Stage 2 reforms to the Model Defamation Provisions commenced in NSW and the ACT on 1 July 2024, and in Victoria on 11 September 2024, with other states following.
The headline changes that matter for businesses dealing with bad reviews:
- →New defences for digital intermediaries — platforms like Google, Facebook, and review sites now have more protection from defamation liability for third-party content, provided they follow a defined complaints process.
- →New court powers to order non-party intermediaries (like search engines) to prevent access to defamatory content, even if the platform itself isn't being sued.
- →Conditional exemptions for passive intermediaries that act as mere conduits for content.
In plain English: the law has moved further in the direction of protecting platforms and the reviewers themselves, while still preserving paths for businesses to act when reviews are genuinely defamatory. The bar to win a defamation case has not got lower. Get specific legal advice before assuming anything about your situation.
Defamation claim
For a review to be defamatory, the review must be public and harm a person's reputation, or be about a business with fewer than 10 employees. The review must identify the person or business.
Where a review clearly identifies an individual, this person may wish to pursue defamation outside of the business, incurring the costs of doing so themselves. However, the reviewer may still have a defence against a defamation claim if they have evidence of the truth or can defend the review as being an honest opinion.
Under the Defamation Act 2005, there are different conditions per state in Australia as to who can claim defamation and for what. This may mean needing to file a Concerns Notice to the reviewer before being able to proceed with a defamation claim or seeking other legal avenues.
What is a Concerns Notice
Queensland Government Crown Law defines a Concerns Notice as:
A notice sent by an aggrieved person to the person who published material complained of. It sets out the publication complained of and the 'defamatory imputations' said to arise from it, and generally requests that the publisher take certain action in order to avoid legal proceedings.
In 2021, amendments to the Model Defamation Provisions in Queensland, NSW, Victoria and South Australia introduced a mandatory Concerns Notice regime and a serious harm test. Further changes followed under the Stage 2 reforms in 2024, particularly around how digital intermediaries are treated. Seek legal counsel in your state for the exact information about your circumstances.
In everyday-people-terms, a Concerns Notice is a letter advising someone that legal action will commence if offending material is not removed and an apology received within a set amount of time. What this letter needs to contain is very specific and may differ from state to state, so it's best to seek legal advice instead of drafting one yourself.
Injurious falsehood claim
Injurious falsehood is a false statement about a person or business's self, goods or services that has been made to a third party, is malicious in nature, and has caused damage directly as a result of the statement.
But isn't this the same as defamation? Not quite.
The similarity is that both involve false and harmful statements communicated to a third party. However, injurious falsehood protects a person's interest of property, products or business, while defamation protects personal reputation.
To prove injurious falsehood, you must be able to demonstrate:
- →A false statement has been made about your business, goods or services.
- →The false statement was published to a third party, such as a review website, online or on social media.
- →There was malice by the person who made the statement.
- →Damage has been done as a direct result of the above.
Injurious falsehood claims typically involve a competitor of a business or person making false statements to tarnish the recipient's reputation.
Australian Consumer Law claim
Under the Australian Competition and Consumer Act 2010, it's against the law for a business to create fake or misleading reviews or to arrange for others to do so.
This not only applies to people creating fake reviews about your business but also if you create reviews for your own business, incentivise customers to do so, or make any attempt to block negative reviews. No one is perfect 100% of the time, so a negative review is inevitable for most businesses.
If the ACCC is made aware of false reviews from either side of the story — your business being the victim or the perpetrator — they may take action, and infringement notices and fines may take place.
Examples of lawsuits over online reviews in Australia
Adelaide lawyer awarded $750,000 over fake reviews
The case of Cheng v Lok [2020] started in 2018 and was not resolved until 2020. Adelaide lawyer Mr Gordon Cheng received an online review from a name he did not identify as someone who used his business's services. He was not aware of the review until 2019, by which time he had already noticed a loss of 80% of his clients.
On complaint to Google, the review was removed. However, the reviewer proceeded to submit further reviews. When Mr Cheng submitted a Concerns Notice to Google, the reviewer changed the name on their review. Mr Cheng then posted a Concerns Notice and further summons publicly, and the review was deleted.
A new review then appeared under the name of an acquaintance Mr Cheng had never represented. On contacting the friend, it turned out it was the friend's daughter. As a result of the defamation, business losses, false reviews and the stress on Mr Cheng, he was awarded $750,000 AUD.
NSW plastic surgeon awarded $500,000+ for false review accusations
In 2017, a patient of plastic surgeon Dr Kourosh Tavakoli claimed medical negligence in a review on Google. Dr Tavakoli pursued the reviewer for defamation and injurious falsehood, having experienced a near 25% reduction in visitors to their website the week following the publication of the review.
In 2020, the court ordered payment of $530,000 to the NSW plastic surgeon for damages as a result of defamation from the reviewer's first statement on Google. They were also ordered not to publish, re-publish, or keep published any of the claims they made online.
Where to find free business legal advice in Australia
Individuals can find free legal advice at Community Legal Centres Australia throughout the country. Each state also has legal aid services. However, as advised by Dr Cantatore, businesses should ensure the person they speak to is experienced in both business law and defamation cases.
"At the Bond Law Clinic at Bond University, we provide free advice to small businesses and there are several other clinics like these in Australia," says Dr Cantatore. "Business and defamation are two distinct areas of law, and not every legal practice provides advice or services for these areas. Legal proceedings can take months, even years, so finding the right legal representation is important — not only for your case, but in you feeling confident."
Localsearch.com.au is a good place to start your research when finding legal assistance near you.
About Dr Francina Cantatore
Dr Francina Cantatore is an Associate Professor at Bond University, Special Counsel with Cronin Miller Litigation, and Director of the Bond Law Clinic Program at Bond University. With a background and a PhD in Copyright Law, Francina is highly sought after for media legal relations, including the effects of Consumer Law on businesses. She is the author of three books, several chapter books, and more than 30 journal articles and many international conference papers.
