In Germany if you say a restaurant is just ok they send the gestapo after you

bko

Additional context: > NetzDG (2017/2018): Germany passed the NetzDG legislation in June 2017, which officially took effect in January 2018. Designed to combat hate speech online, it mandated that major social media platforms remove "illegal content"—including defamation and insults—within strict timeframes or face heavy fines. > Strict Liability Precedent: Even before NetzDG, German courts have traditionally set a low threshold for companies to challenge reviews. If a business simply claims a reviewer has no record of a transaction, platforms will often temporarily remove the review and force the user to provide proof of their visit. > Fully 99.97% of Google Maps reviews taken down for “defamation” across the entire 27-country European Union are for businesses based in Germany, official European data shows. I'll take unintended consequences for $500 https://www.fastcompany.com/91420303/google-review-germany-t...

not_your_vase

Have been wondering since a long time if there are still any real reviews on the internet, that weren't paid for by someone, something that could be trusted. I really can't remember when was the last review that turned out to be true. But while I do believe that there is a real hole in the market there, I am not sure how big that market is, if there is really a demand for real reviews - both products and services (and whatever else can be reviewed)

Finnucane

Not being allowed to post bad review ~= being dragged out of your house and beaten with nightsticks, then deported to a camp.

bell-cot

Daydream: Sites display 5.0 star ratings for everything in Germany - doesn't matter if it a junk yard, morgue, or sewage treatment plant. With no further details at all, except "Due to current German law, our attorneys have instructed us to say that everything in Germany is absolutely perfect." Maybe apply the same policy to North Korea, in the spirit of PDR Solidarity.

gmuslera

All visible reactions should be positive. They also removed dislike buttons from YouTube a while ago.

GuestFAUniverse

An the Gestapo is a US company named Google in this case.

OutOfHere

The poster is lucky he didn't have it any worse. After a trip abroad where I posted reviews, Google deleted all my Maps reviews, mostly those in the US, going back ten years, and permanently prohibited me from posting further reviews altogether.

bko

this post has been flagged. Ironic

on_the_train

Even more fun: if you say the title of this post in Germany, that's illegal. Because all comparisons with Nazis are.

smitty1e

"The Gästeführer would like a word with you..."

dzhiurgis

Someone please vibe code a site where you pay to leave bad reviews. The more is paid the worse it is.