Is review bombing illegal in the UK?

Review bombing, a coordinated flood of negative reviews meant to damage rather than inform, has no single statute named after it in the UK, but that does not make it lawful. A fake negative review is still a fake review. Where the bombing is run by a competitor or by anyone acting commercially, it walks into the same banned-practices regime as fake positive reviews, and the CMA's regime covers practices that harm businesses through deceived consumers.

Individual reviews within a bombing can cross other lines. A review stating provably false facts, saying a company took payment and vanished when it did no such thing, can be defamatory if it causes or is likely to cause serious harm, and malicious falsehood covers lies told to damage trade. Sustained targeting of an individual can amount to harassment. These are civil and sometimes criminal matters where a solicitor, not a search engine, is the right adviser.

Platform rules are the fastest lever in practice. Google's policies prohibit reviews that are off-topic, that come from people with no genuine experience, and that exist to manipulate a rating in either direction, and mass review attacks driven by news events or social media pile-ons are a documented removal category. A well-evidenced report through your Business Profile, flagging the spike, the pattern and any accounts with no plausible customer relationship, is the first move.

Evidence discipline decides these cases. Screenshot everything immediately, reviews, dates, reviewer profiles, because posts get edited and deleted. Note which reviewers appear in no booking, invoice or enquiry record. If the bombing follows a dispute with a known person, that correspondence matters too.

While it runs, reply once, calmly, to the visible wave: a short factual note that the business is aware of a coordinated set of reviews from non-customers and has reported it. Future customers reading the profile can usually see a pile-on for what it is, and one composed reply helps them do so.