Removing nasty comments about your business made on social media is a difficult business.
Some review sites allow owners to post responses. But often that’s not enough, and if the business wants to remove visitor comments that are just plain wrong or offensive, it finds it cannot do so.
Social media platforms such as Facebook, Google and TripAdvisor will only remove ‘hate speech’ which is a high bar to jump over.
The best answer may be to ‘encourage’ the customer who posted the offensive comment to remove it.
That is where non-disparagement clauses come in.
A non-disparagement clause inserted into a business’ Terms and Conditions states that the customer agrees not to publish wrong or offensive comments on social media about the goods or services provided by the business. If the customer breaches the clause, the business can sue the customer for breach of contract.
The threat of a law suit might be enough to ‘encourage’ the customer to remove the post.
But not any old non-disparagement clause is enough. Under the Australian Consumer Law, a non-disparagement clause is void unless it is fair to both the business and the customer.
How do you draft the perfect clause?
In this article, I provide a guide on traps to avoid if using non-disparagement clauses, traps which will invite the ACCC to take an interest and void the clauses.