Online Review Forums must check Content

Online review forums have become commonplace in many sectors. However, not all reviews should be published without prior inspection.

In the automotive industry, such forums are used to review the services of garages. Generally, users leave a review without stating their real names. The ruling of the Federal Court of Justice (Bundesgerichtshof – “BGH”) dated 01/03/2016 (VI ZR 34/15) deals with the obligations of the operators of a review forum for doctors.  However, these obligations also apply to all other review forums. Generally, a review does not represent the view of the operator of the forum. Therefore, the operator is only liable for a review left by a forum user if the operator has failed to adhere to reasonable obligations to check the content of the review. However, the service provider of a review forum cannot be subjected to any content-checking obligation that financially jeopardizes its business model or places an undue burden on its enterprise. The operation of a review forum does however pose an inherent risk of violating personality rights. This risk is all the more enhanced by the possibility of leaving reviews anonymously.

The BGH therefore believes that this risk can only be countered by obligating the forum operator to notify the company under review in the event of an extraordinarily negative user review and to compel the reviewer to describe the alleged contact with the company as specifically as possible. If necessary, the reviewer can also be required to present documents and other evidence to the greatest extent possible. These requirements apply to any cases in which the reviewer accuses the company of significant shortcomings that could have equally significant implications for its business. The consequences of this BGH ruling are that the operator of a review forum cannot simply publish any review without prior inspection.