How to Remove a Google Review
in India
A legal step-by-step guide for individuals and businesses across India. Standard Google flag-and-report has a low success rate for clearly defamatory reviews. A legal notice under the IT Act 2000 starts Google's grievance duties under the IT Rules 2021, and a court order, where one is needed, must be acted on within three hours.
The legal process.
Document the review: screenshot with URL, date, and reviewer profile.
Assess legal actionability: determine if the review is defamatory (false statement of fact) vs opinion. RepuLex provides free assessment.
IT Act Section 79 notice: the partner law firm serves a formal legal notice on Google; where Google declines, a court order must be acted on within three hours under the IT Rules 2021.
Defamation notice to the author: in parallel, a notice citing BNS 2023 s.356 (formerly IPC 499/500) is served on the review originator, setting out their personal exposure for false statements of fact.
Google de-indexing: once removed, a formal de-indexing request is filed. Review is removed from Maps and Search results permanently.