Quick Summary
- You can delete only reviews you posted yourself. Open the business Page, locate your review, select the three-dot menu, and choose the delete or edit option.
- Business owners cannot directly remove customer reviews. Page administrators must report reviews to Facebook when they contain spam, harassment, impersonation, hate speech, or other policy violations.
- Reporting does not guarantee removal. Facebook may keep a review visible when it is negative but does not clearly violate its Community Standards.
- You can turn off Facebook Reviews and Recommendations. However, this hides all existing reviews, removes the Page rating, and prevents customers from leaving new feedback.
- Respond professionally when a review cannot be removed. Acknowledge the concern, avoid public arguments, invite the reviewer to contact you privately, and ask them to update the review after resolving the issue.
- A negative, fake, or outdated Facebook review can affect how potential customers view your business. However, removing a Facebook review is not always as simple as clicking “Delete.”
The available method depends on who posted the review:
- You can edit or delete a review you wrote yourself.
- Business Page owners cannot directly delete reviews written by customers.
- Page administrators can report reviews that violate Facebook’s rules.
- Businesses can also turn off the entire Reviews or Recommendations feature, but doing so hides all reviews—not just the negative ones.
This guide explains how to remove reviews from Facebook, report fake feedback, disable reviews, and manage negative reviews that Facebook does not remove.
Can You Delete a Review on Facebook?
Yes, but only in certain situations.
You can delete a Facebook review when you are the person who originally posted it. If another person reviewed your business, Facebook does not provide Page administrators with a button to remove that individual review. Hotels that responded to customer reviews gained 0.12 stars and received 12% more reviews, according to published research
As a business owner, your main options are to:
- Report the review if it violates Facebook’s Community Standards.
- Ask the reviewer to edit or remove it after resolving the issue.
- Respond publicly and professionally.
- Disable all Reviews and Recommendations on your Page.
Facebook may remove reported content when it determines that the content violates its standards. Reviews that are simply negative, critical, or based on an unhappy customer experience are not automatically eligible for removal.
How to Delete a Facebook Review You Wrote?
You can remove a review or recommendation that you personally posted on another business’s Facebook Page. Approximately 16% of Yelp restaurant reviews were filtered as suspicious; filtered reviews were also more likely to contain extreme ratings, according to a peer-reviewed study.
Delete Your Review from the Business Page
Follow these steps:
- Log in to the Facebook account you used to write the review.
- Search for and open the business’s Facebook Page.
- Select Reviews or Recommendations. You may need to open the More menu first.
- Find the review you posted.
- Select the three-dot menu beside the review.
- Choose Delete Review, Delete Recommendation, or a similarly worded option.
- Confirm that you want to delete it.
You may also see an Edit Review option if you prefer to correct or update your feedback instead of removing it completely. The exact wording and position of these options can differ slightly between Facebook’s desktop site and mobile app.
Delete the Review Through Your Activity Log
Use your Activity Log when you cannot find the original review on the business Page:
- Open your Facebook profile.
- Select the three-dot menu near your profile information.
- Open Activity Log.
- Browse or filter your past activity to find the review.
- Open the menu beside it.
- Select Delete or Edit.
Make sure you are signed in to the account that originally submitted the review. You cannot delete a review from a different Facebook account.
How Do You Remove a Review from Your Facebook Business Page?
A Page owner cannot directly erase a customer’s review. This restriction prevents businesses from removing every critical comment and presenting an artificially positive reputation. In certain markets, only 50 fake reviews could push a hotel above every competitor in online visibility, based on an analysis of 2.3 million reviews, according to this research.
You can, however, report a review when it contains prohibited content or appears to be spam, harassment, impersonation, or another clear policy violation.
How to Report a Facebook Review
To report a review or recommendation:
- Log in to Facebook.
- Switch from your personal profile to the business Page you manage.
- Open the Page’s Reviews or Recommendations section.
- Locate the review you want Facebook to examine.
- Select the three-dot menu beside the review.
- Choose Find support or report Recommendation, Report post, or the available reporting option.
- Select the reason that best describes the violation.
- Follow the prompts and submit the report.
Facebook will assess the content and may remove it if it violates the platform’s standards. Reporting a review does not guarantee removal.
What Types of Facebook Reviews Can Be Reported?
Consider reporting a review when it includes:
- Spam or unrelated promotional links
- Threats, bullying, or harassment
- Hate speech or discriminatory slurs
- Impersonation or misleading identity information
- Personal information shared without permission
- Fraudulent or repetitive content posted by fake accounts
- Content unrelated to the business being reviewed
A low rating alone is not normally a valid reason for removal. Similarly, disagreeing with the reviewer’s opinion does not necessarily mean that the review violates Facebook’s rules.
Before reporting a suspected fake review, check your customer records, appointment history, order database, email messages, and support tickets. This can help you determine whether the reviewer had a genuine interaction with your business.
How to Remove Fake Facebook Reviews?
Fake reviews should be handled carefully. Publicly accusing someone of lying can make the situation worse, especially when you do not have complete information. A 1% improvement in a hotel’s online reputation score was associated with a 0.99% increase in revenue per available room, according to a published study.
Start by documenting the review. Save screenshots showing the reviewer’s name, review text, date, rating, and any attached images. Then compare the claims with your internal records.
Report the review if there is strong evidence that it is spam, impersonation, harassment, or otherwise violates Facebook’s policies. While the report is being considered, post a calm response such as:
Hi, we are unable to locate a customer record matching the experience described here. Please contact us privately with your order number or appointment details so we can investigate this properly.
This response avoids revealing private customer information while showing potential customers that your business is willing to examine the complaint.
How to Turn Off Reviews on Facebook?
Businesses can disable the Reviews and Recommendations feature when they do not want people to view or submit reviews through the Page. Review requests increased review volume by 34.3% and ratings by 0.151 stars, but reduced organic reviews by 15.5%, according to a TripAdvisor experiment.
On Facebook’s current desktop Page experience:
- Log in and select your profile picture.
- Select See all profiles.
- Switch to the business Page.
- Select the Page’s profile picture.
- Open Settings & privacy and then Settings.
- Select Page and tagging.
- Turn off Allow others to view and leave reviews on your Page?
Turning this setting off disables Recommendations and removes the Page’s visible rating and reviews. It also prevents visitors from submitting new reviews while the feature is disabled.
Should You Disable Facebook Reviews?
Disabling reviews may provide temporary relief during a coordinated spam or fake-review attack, but it has important disadvantages.
It removes positive feedback along with negative feedback. Potential customers will no longer be able to read genuine customer experiences, and Facebook notes that Recommendations may help people learn about a business and may improve its visibility in Facebook search.
For most businesses, reporting policy violations and professionally answering legitimate criticism is better than permanently turning off reviews.
What to Do When Facebook Does Not Remove a Review?
Facebook may leave a reported review online when it does not find a clear policy violation. In that situation, focus on managing the effect of the review rather than repeatedly arguing with the customer.
Respond Professionally
A useful response should:
- Acknowledge the customer’s concern.
- Avoid defensive or accusatory language.
- Apologize for the poor experience when appropriate.
- Offer a specific way to resolve the issue.
- Move account details and private information to direct messages.
For example:
We’re sorry your experience did not meet expectations. We would appreciate the opportunity to investigate and make this right. Please message us with your order details so our team can assist you directly.
Resolve the Underlying Problem
Contact the customer privately and determine what happened. Offer a reasonable solution, such as correcting the service, replacing an item, reviewing a charge, or explaining a misunderstanding.
Once the matter has been resolved, politely ask whether the customer would consider updating their review. Do not pressure them or demand removal as a condition of receiving support.
Encourage More Genuine Feedback
A consistent flow of authentic customer feedback reduces the influence of one isolated negative review. Ask customers for honest feedback after successful purchases, appointments, deliveries, or support interactions.
Avoid asking only customers you believe will leave positive feedback. A neutral request for an honest review creates a more trustworthy business profile.
Facebook Reviews vs. Recommendations
Facebook often displays business feedback as Recommendations rather than traditional star-only reviews. A customer may be asked whether they recommend the business and can then add written comments, photos, or additional details.
People still commonly refer to these posts as Facebook reviews. Therefore, the terms review and recommendation may appear interchangeably in Facebook menus and removal instructions.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
Do not argue with reviewers publicly, reveal customer records, encourage employees to attack the reviewer, or ask several people to report a legitimate review simply because it is negative.
The number of complaints does not automatically determine whether Facebook removes content. The decision depends on whether the review violates the platform’s rules.
Also avoid buying positive reviews or creating fake profiles to improve your rating. Artificial feedback can damage customer trust and may create additional problems for your Page.
Final Thoughts
Facebook review removal depends on who posted the content and whether it violates the platform’s rules.
You can delete or edit a review you wrote yourself. However, a business owner cannot directly remove an individual customer review. The business can report policy-violating content, respond to legitimate criticism, ask the reviewer to update their feedback after resolving the problem, or turn off all Reviews and Recommendations.
For most businesses, the best approach is to report clearly abusive or fake content while responding constructively to genuine customer complaints. This protects your reputation without removing the authentic feedback that future customers use to evaluate your business.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Can a business owner delete a Facebook review?
No. Business Page administrators cannot directly delete reviews written by customers. You can only report a review if it violates Facebook’s Community Standards or spam policies.
How do I remove a fake review from my Facebook Page?
Open the review’s three-dot menu and report it using the most accurate reason. Save screenshots and check customer records before reporting, because Facebook may require a clear policy violation rather than simply accepting that the review is untrue.
Should I respond to a fake review before reporting it?
You can report the review and leave a calm response explaining that you cannot locate a matching customer record. Meta does not state that replying prevents a review from being assessed or removed.
Why did Facebook refuse to remove a negative review?
Facebook generally removes reviews for policy violations, not because they are critical, unfair, or damaging to a business. A genuine customer’s negative opinion may remain visible even when the business disagrees with it.
Can I turn off reviews without deleting my Facebook Page?
Yes. Go to Settings → Page and tagging and turn off the option allowing people to view and leave reviews. This disables Recommendations and removes all ratings and reviews from public view—not only the negative ones.
Should I disable reviews because of one bad review?
Usually not. Reddit business owners commonly recommend keeping reviews active when positive feedback substantially outweighs one negative review. Disabling the feature also hides your strongest customer recommendations.
Can customers delete reviews they wrote themselves?
Yes. The person who posted a business review can return to it and edit or delete it. Therefore, after resolving a complaint, you may politely ask the customer whether they would consider updating their review.
What should I write in response to a suspected fake review?
Keep the response factual and non-confrontational:
We cannot locate a customer record matching this experience. Please message us with your order or appointment details so we can investigate the matter.
Avoid publicly accusing the person of lying unless you have clear evidence.
What should I do if several people leave coordinated fake reviews?
Document every review, take screenshots, report each one individually, and record why you believe the accounts are connected. Facebook states that reviews violating its spam policies may be removed, although removal is not guaranteed.
How long does Facebook take to remove a reported review?
Facebook does not provide a guaranteed review-removal timeline in its Help Center. Continue monitoring the Page and avoid repeatedly arguing with the reviewer while the report is being considered.