Martech: Martech is Marketing Logo
  • Topics
    Digital Transformation
    Marketing Operations
    Data
    Customer & Digital Experience
    Performance Marketing
    Marketing Management
    Special Reports
    MarTech Topics
  • Conference
  • Webinars
  • Intelligence Reports
  • White Papers
  • What is MarTech
    Mission
    Staff
    Newsletter
    Search Engine Land
    Third Door Media

Processing...Please wait.

MarTech » Marketing Management » Congress on the cusp of national review protection law

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

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 MarTech. Staff authors are listed here.


New on MarTech

    Webinar: Grow revenue streams through web accessibility and compliance
    How to turn the great buyer resignation into B2B career opportunities
    HubSpot customers paying 12% more than in 2021
    Closing your team’s technical gap without hiring
    Marketers want better features from their martech solutions

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

Marketing ManagementPerformance Marketing

Get the daily newsletter digital marketers rely on.

Processing...Please wait.

See terms.

ATTEND OUR EVENTS The MarTech Conference logo.

September 28-29, 2022: Fall

Start Training Now: Master Classes

Start Discovering Now: Spring



The SMX Conference logo.

Start Training Now:: SMX Advanced

November 14-15, 2022: SMX Next

March 8-9, 2022: Master Classes

Webinars

Agencies: Grow Revenue Streams Through Web Accessibility & Compliance

Protect Your Paid Advertising Spend Against Ad Fraud and Invalid Traffic

Build an Integrated Search Strategy Across Google, Amazon and YouTube

See More Webinars
Intelligence Reports

Enterprise SEO Platforms: A Marketer’s Guide

Enterprise Identity Resolution Platforms

Email Marketing Platforms: A Marketer’s Guide

See More Intelligence Reports
Featured White Paper

Digital Marketing Strategy Ebook

See More Whitepapers

Receive daily marketing news & analysis.

Processing...Please wait.

Topics

  • Transformation
  • Operations
  • Data
  • Experience
  • Performance
  • Management
  • All Topics
  • Home

Our Events

  • MarTech
  • Search Marketing Expo - SMX

About

  • What is MarTech
  • Contact
  • Privacy
  • Terms Of Use
  • Marketing Opportunities
  • Staff

Follow Us

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Newsletters
  • RSS

© 2022 Third Door Media, Inc. All rights reserved.