South Melbourne brothel sues Google over bad reviews

A South Melbourne brothel is has launched a legal case against Google over bad online reviews.

The owner of The Boardroom of Melbourne said his business has received a slew of fraudulent one star reviews in recent months, which have driven the brothel’s Google rating down to 3.2 stars.

The brothel has taken legal action in an attempt to force Google to reveal the identities of the people who’ve left bad reviews.

One recent reviewer, who rated the brothel one star, described the business as “cheap and dirty”.

“The receptionist told me that a fat man like me should be happy with anything I could get,” the review reads.

Defamation lawyer at Matrix Legal, Mark Stanarevic, is representing the brothel in its case against the internet behemoth.

“This shouldn’t be a legal problem. What we say is it’s a failing of Google’s duty of care to manage their business platform,” he told 3AW’s Ross and John.

“The most common thread here with respect to my clients, they’re small businesses and what they say has happened is not only are the reviews malicious, but they’re also anonymous which we say is a breach of Google’s own terms and conditions. They shouldn’t be there in the first place.

“The only thing Google will listen to is a court order!”

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Image: Google Maps