Your TrustScore drops half a point overnight, and when you go looking for the review that did it, you find one from a name you don’t recognize, describing an order you never fulfilled, a call that never happened, or a product you don’t even sell. It reads like it was written about a different company entirely — because it probably was, or it was never written by a real customer at all.
Trustpilot doesn’t let you delete that review just because you disagree with it. But it does have a formal, evidence-based process for getting genuinely fake reviews removed — and knowing exactly how that process works, what counts as proof, and what doesn’t, is the difference between a review coming down in days and it sitting on your profile for months while you argue with a support inbox.
The Quick Answer
Quick Answer for Busy Business Owners
- You cannot delete a Trustpilot review yourself, even on a paid plan — you can only flag it for violating one of five specific policies: harmful/illegal content, exposed personal information, advertising, not based on a genuine experience, or posted against the wrong business.
- Flag it from your Trustpilot Business account → open the review → select “Report review” → choose the violation category → submit evidence. Vague objections like “I don’t recognize this customer” are routinely rejected.
- Evidence wins cases: order numbers, booking references, CRM records, and correspondence get reviews removed. General denials almost never do.
- Trustpilot’s Content Integrity team investigates every flag. Reviews flagged for harmful or illegal content are hidden immediately; everything else stays live and visible while under review.
- In 2024, Trustpilot removed 4.5 million fake reviews — 7.4% of everything submitted that year — and 90% were caught automatically, before a human ever looked at them.
- If Trustpilot declines to remove a genuinely false review, your remaining options are a stronger-evidence appeal, a direct retraction request to the reviewer, or legal action against the reviewer — not Trustpilot itself, which is generally not liable for hosting third-party content.
What Actually Counts as a “Fake” Review on Trustpilot
Trustpilot defines a fake review simply: one that doesn’t reflect a genuine service or purchase experience. That sounds obvious until you’re staring at a 1-star review and trying to prove a negative — that something didn’t happen. Trustpilot’s own reviewer guidelines lay out exactly what a review is supposed to be, and every requirement on that list is a potential angle for a legitimate flag.
| Requirement for a Valid Review | What It Means |
|---|---|
| Genuine experience | Must be based on an actual purchase, booking, call, chat, or store visit |
| Recency | The experience must have happened within the last 12 months |
| Age & account | Reviewer must be 18+ with a verified Trustpilot account and valid email |
| No incentives | Cannot have received a discount, refund, or freebie in exchange for the review |
| No conflict of interest | Cannot be an employee, owner, shareholder, or competitor of the business |
A review that fails any one of these isn’t just “unfair” — it’s a policy violation, and policy violations are exactly what Trustpilot’s Content Integrity team is set up to act on.
The 5 Grounds Trustpilot Will Actually Act On
Trustpilot doesn’t accept “I don’t like this review” as a removal reason, and no amount of arguing will change that. What it does accept is a flag that falls cleanly into one of five defined categories:
| Flag Category | What Qualifies |
|---|---|
| Harmful or illegal content | Hate speech, threats, violence, obscenity, or defamatory false statements of fact |
| Personal information | Names, phone numbers, emails, or photos of staff not already public on your profile or site |
| Advertising or promotional material | Competitor promotion, unrelated ads, spam, or political/religious content unconnected to the experience |
| Not based on a genuine experience | The reviewer was never a customer, or the review doesn’t describe an actual transaction |
| Wrong business | The review is clearly meant for a different company or location |
Almost every removable fake review falls under “not based on a genuine experience” — which is also the hardest one to win without documentation, because it puts the burden on you to show the reviewer wasn’t actually your customer.
How to Flag a Fake Trustpilot Review, Step by Step
- Log into your Trustpilot Business account and open the review from your dashboard.
- Click the flag or “Report review” option on the review itself.
- Select the specific violation category from the five listed above — guessing wrong slows the investigation down.
- Attach your evidence. Order numbers, booking confirmations, CRM screenshots, timestamps, or employment records that show the reviewer has no genuine relationship to your business.
- Submit the flag and note the date — you’ll want it if you need to follow up.
- Wait for the Content Integrity team’s decision, which arrives by email once the investigation closes.
What Happens After You Submit a Flag
Once a review is flagged, it goes to Trustpilot’s Content Integrity team, not a generic support queue. What happens next depends on the category:
- Harmful or illegal content is hidden immediately while the investigation runs.
- Every other category stays visible on your profile during the review — flagging it does not pull it down while Trustpilot investigates.
- For some cases, Trustpilot contacts the reviewer directly and gives them three days to verify or provide more detail about their experience before a final decision is made.
- You’ll receive an email with the outcome once the investigation closes.
- If you disagree with the decision, you can appeal by replying to that email with additional evidence for a manual re-review.
Evidence That Gets Reviews Removed (vs. Evidence That Doesn’t)
| Works | Doesn’t Work |
|---|---|
| Order numbers, invoices, or booking references that don’t match any customer record | “I don’t remember this customer” |
| CRM or POS export showing no account tied to the reviewer’s name or email | “This seems fake to me” |
| Employment or ownership records showing the reviewer is a competitor or ex-employee | “We would never treat a customer like that” |
| Timestamps proving the reviewer’s described visit couldn’t have happened (closed location, date mismatch) | General disagreement with a low star rating |
The pattern is simple: Trustpilot’s Content Integrity team needs something to check against a record, not a character reference for your business. If you’re not sure whether what you have is strong enough, that’s exactly the kind of case our Trustpilot review removal service is built to assess before you submit a flag that gets rejected.
Not sure if your Trustpilot review qualifies for removal — or what evidence you actually need?
How Long Does It Actually Take?
Trustpilot doesn’t publish a fixed turnaround time, and that’s the honest answer, not a dodge. What determines the timeline is the category: reviews flagged for harmful or illegal content are hidden immediately and typically resolve fastest, since there’s no visible damage accumulating while the investigation runs. Reviews flagged as “not a genuine experience” take longer, especially when Trustpilot reaches out to the reviewer for verification — that alone can add several days, since the reviewer is given a three-day window to respond. Cases with strong, specific documentation attached from the start consistently move faster than flags submitted with a one-line explanation and no evidence.
When the Review Isn’t Fake — It’s Just Bad
Not every damaging review is a policy violation, and it’s worth being honest with yourself about which kind you’re dealing with before you spend time on a flag that won’t go anywhere. A review from a real customer describing a real bad experience — slow shipping, a rude call, a product that didn’t meet expectations — is exactly the kind of content Trustpilot is designed to protect, even when it costs you stars.
For that review, flagging isn’t the tool. A calm, specific public response is: acknowledge what went wrong, explain what changed, and give future readers something other than the complaint to weigh. Genuine reviews you disagree with don’t get removed by disputing them — they get outweighed, over time, by a steady stream of new genuine reviews from customers who had a better experience. That’s the slow path. The fast path only exists for reviews that actually break the rules.
If Trustpilot Says No: Your Legal Options
When a flag is rejected and you’re confident the review is still false — not just negative, but built on fabricated facts — you have options beyond Trustpilot’s own process. This isn’t legal advice, and the right path depends on your jurisdiction and the specifics of what was written, so talk to an attorney before taking formal action. But broadly:
- Re-appeal with stronger evidence. A rejected flag isn’t final; a reply to the decision email with more specific documentation triggers a manual re-review.
- Request a retraction directly. Some reviewers will edit or delete a review once they realize it names the wrong business or that legal exposure is on the table.
- Understand the opinion-vs-fact line. A reviewer is allowed to say a business is “terrible” — that’s opinion. A reviewer is not protected for inventing a specific false fact (“they charged my card without authorization”) that never happened — that can be defamation.
- Know who you can actually sue. In most jurisdictions, platforms like Trustpilot are shielded from liability for hosting third-party reviews, similar to Section 230 protections in the US. Legal action for a defamatory review is generally directed at the individual reviewer, not the platform.
- A cease-and-desist letter from an attorney is often enough to get a genuinely defamatory review taken down without a lawsuit, especially once the reviewer understands they can be identified.
Trustpilot’s Own Numbers Prove Fake Reviews Are a Real Problem
This isn’t a fringe issue Trustpilot downplays — the company publishes an annual Trust Report specifically because fake reviews are a measurable, ongoing problem at scale. The most recent report, covering 2024 and published in May 2025, put real numbers on it:
| Metric (2024, published May 2025) | Figure |
|---|---|
| Fake reviews detected and removed | 4.5 million |
| Share of all reviews submitted that were fake | 7.4% |
| Total reviews submitted in 2024 | 61 million |
| Total reviews on the platform (all-time) | Over 300 million |
| Fake reviews caught automatically (no human review needed) | 90% |
| Growth in automated detection vs. 2023 | +53% |
| Reviews flagged by consumers | 92,000 |
| Reviews flagged by businesses | 601,000 |
The takeaway for any business dealing with a suspicious review: you are not the first to flag something, and Trustpilot’s own systems are actively looking for exactly the kind of manipulation you’re reporting. That doesn’t guarantee your flag succeeds — but it does mean the process exists, works at real scale, and rewards a well-documented report over an emotional one.
Ready to get a fake or defamatory Trustpilot review removed the right way?
Trustpilot Review Removal — Frequently Asked Questions
Can a business delete a Trustpilot review themselves?
No. Even on a paid Trustpilot Business plan, you cannot delete reviews directly. You can only flag a review for violating one of Trustpilot’s five content policies, and Trustpilot’s Content Integrity team decides whether it comes down.
How long does Trustpilot take to remove a fake review?
There’s no fixed published timeline. Reviews flagged for harmful or illegal content are hidden immediately during investigation. Other categories can take longer, particularly when Trustpilot contacts the reviewer for verification, which allows up to three days for a response.
Does flagging a review hurt my TrustScore while it’s under review?
No. Flagging a review doesn’t change your TrustScore by itself, and most flagged reviews remain visible (and factored into your score) until a decision is reached — the exception is harmful or illegal content, which is hidden immediately.
Can I get a review removed just because it’s negative?
No. A negative review based on a genuine experience is exactly what Trustpilot is designed to protect, even if it costs you stars. Removal requires a specific policy violation — not disagreement with the rating or the opinion expressed.
What if the reviewer was never actually a customer?
That’s the “not based on a genuine experience” flag category. You’ll need to support it with evidence — order records, CRM data, or booking references showing no match to the reviewer’s name, email, or described transaction.
Can I sue someone for posting a fake Trustpilot review?
Potentially, if the review contains false statements of fact (not just a negative opinion) that damage your business. Legal action is generally directed at the individual reviewer rather than Trustpilot itself, since platforms are typically shielded from liability for third-party content. Consult an attorney before pursuing this route.
Does Trustpilot charge businesses to remove fake reviews?
No. Flagging and disputing reviews through Trustpilot’s own process is free and available to any business, paid plan or not. Third-party services exist to help prepare stronger evidence and manage the flagging and appeals process on your behalf.