Last updated: May 19, 2026
Who this policy is for
This policy describes how anyone can raise a concern about a review published on RealReviews.io, and how we respond. It applies to two main groups:
- Consumers who want to flag a review about a business — for example, a review that appears to be fake, off-topic, or to violate our content rules.
- Businesses that want to flag a review about themselves — for example, a review they believe to be from a non-customer, factually inaccurate, or in breach of our Editorial Policy.
Anyone can use this process. You do not need an account to report illegal content.
How to flag a review
To flag a review, email us at contact@realreviews.io with the subject line "Review flag". Include:
- A link to the review you are reporting.
- The reason for the report (suspected fake, off-topic, factually inaccurate, hate speech, doxxing, illegal content, etc.).
- A short description of the issue.
- Any supporting evidence — an order number, transaction ID, screenshot, or other link — if it is relevant to your reason.
Reports submitted with specific evidence are typically resolved faster than reports that only state "this is fake." A dedicated in-page Report control is on our product roadmap and will be added to this page when it ships.
Response service levels
We aim to meet the following response targets:
- Standard flags (suspected policy violation, factual dispute, off-topic content): initial response within 5 business days of submission.
- Urgent flags (illegal content, threats of violence, doxxing, content that may cause immediate harm): initial assessment within 2 business days of submission.
"Initial response" means a moderator has reviewed the report and either issued a decision or contacted the parties for more information. Complex disputes that require evidence from both the reviewer and the business may take longer to fully resolve; we will tell you when that is the case.
These response times are operational targets, not contractual guarantees. Periods of high volume, public holidays, or investigations that require evidence from third parties may extend response times. Where we expect to materially miss a target, we aim to tell you, but a missed target does not by itself create any right of remedy beyond rights you have under applicable law or our Terms of Service.
What happens after you flag a review
Every flagged review follows the same workflow:
- Triage — a moderator checks the report against our policies and decides whether it requires investigation or can be closed at intake.
- Investigation — where relevant, we contact the reviewer and the business to gather more information. Either party may be asked for evidence.
- Decision — a human moderator makes the final call, applying the rules in our Editorial Policy.
- Notification — both the person who submitted the flag and the author of the review are told the outcome and the reasoning, in plain language.
Information collected from reviewers, businesses, or other parties during this process is handled in accordance with our Privacy Policy.
Possible outcomes
After investigation, any of the following can happen:
- The review is kept as-is.
- The review is edited by its author at our request (for example, to remove a doxxed phone number while keeping the rest of the experience intact).
- The review is hidden from public pages pending further evidence.
- The review is removed entirely.
- A business response is added or corrected.
- The reviewer's account receives a warning.
- The reviewer's account is suspended or banned for repeat or severe violations.
- A business account that has filed repeated bad-faith flags receives a warning or is restricted from filing further flags without additional evidence.
- Any other reasonable action that RealReviews.io determines is appropriate to enforce its policies, protect users, or protect the integrity of the platform.
Appeals
If you disagree with a moderation decision — either as the reviewer or as the business — you can appeal by replying to the notification email with the word "Appeal" and any new evidence. Appeals are typically handled by a senior moderator who was not involved in the original decision. We aim to issue an initial appeal response within 10 business days; as with the response targets above, this is an operational goal rather than a contractual commitment. Decisions made on appeal are final for the RealReviews.io platform, but they do not affect any rights you may have under EU or local law (see below).
EU Digital Services Act compliance
RealReviews.io is committed to compliance with the EU Digital Services Act (DSA). We operate below the Very Large Online Platform (VLOP) threshold, so the VLOP-specific obligations set out in DSA Chapter III Section 5 do not currently apply to us. The general obligations for online platforms do apply, and we follow them.
If you are a user located in the European Union and you are not satisfied with our handling of your report or appeal, you are entitled under DSA Article 21 to pursue out-of-court dispute resolution through a certified dispute-settlement body in your Member State. A list of certified bodies is maintained by each Member State's Digital Services Coordinator and is also available through the European Commission's DSA portal.
We support priority routing for notices submitted by verified law-enforcement authorities and by entities awarded "trusted flagger" status under DSA Article 22 in their Member State. Trusted-flagger notices are placed in our urgent queue and assessed within the 2-business-day SLA above.
Reporting illegal content
If you believe a review on RealReviews.io contains illegal content — for example, defamation, incitement to violence, child sexual abuse material, or content that violates intellectual-property law — email contact@realreviews.io with the subject line "Illegal content notice" and include a link to the review and a short description of why you believe the content is illegal. These reports go directly into our urgent queue and receive an initial assessment within 2 business days.
Reporting fraudulent or phishing business pages
The flagging process above applies to individual reviews. If you instead suspect that a business profile or brand page on RealReviews.io is being used for phishing, fraud, misrepresentation, or any other unauthorized or malicious activity, email contact@realreviews.io with the subject line "Fraudulent business page" and include the URL of the page together with a short description of what you observed.
As set out in section 7 of our Terms of Service, where we have reasonable grounds to believe a business profile or brand page is being used for any of the above, we reserve the right to suspend or permanently delete that page immediately and without prior notice. Decisions taken under this provision are not subject to the standard response SLAs or the appeal timeline described above; they may still be reviewed on request by emailing the address above, but a review does not pause or reverse the immediate action.
Transparency reporting
We intend to publish aggregate statistics on flags received, moderation decisions, and appeal outcomes in a periodic Trust Report. The first edition will be linked from this page when it is available. Until then, aggregate figures are available on request by emailing contact@realreviews.io.
For more on how paying business customers are kept separate from these moderation decisions, see Ownership & Funding.
Limitations
The procedures in this policy describe how we aim to handle flags, complaints, and appeals. To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law:
- the response targets and appeal timelines in this policy are operational goals, not contractual commitments;
- final moderation decisions reflect our reasonable judgment at the time and are not warranties that any individual review is, or is not, accurate or true;
- we may decline to investigate flags that are frivolous, repetitive without new evidence, manifestly unfounded, or submitted in bad faith;
- we may take immediate action — including suspending, hiding, or removing content or accounts — without prior notice where required by law, where authorized by section 7 of our Terms of Service, or where we reasonably believe such action is necessary to prevent ongoing harm.
This policy does not, and is not intended to, create any contractual right beyond the rights expressly granted in our Terms of Service or under applicable law. Nothing in this policy waives or limits any non-excludable rights you may have under EU consumer-protection law, the EU Digital Services Act (including the out-of-court dispute resolution right under DSA Article 21), or other mandatory local law in the jurisdiction where you are resident. Where applicable law conflicts with anything in this policy, applicable law prevails.
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