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How to Remove Facebook Reviews (or Disable Them)

Are you sick and tired of bad Facebook reviews chasing away customer?

In this post, I’ll reveal everything you need to know about how to remove reviews from Facebook. There’s a lot to cover, so stick with me. By end of this post you’ll be able to get rid of bad Facebook reviews, report fake ones, and even disable them all.

Potential clients frequently ask us how to remove reviews from Facebook. But think about that question for a moment. It can actually mean several different things, right? So we need to dig a little deeper…

• Are you trying to report and remove fake reviews from Facebook?
• Do you want to remove bad reviews from your Facebook business page?
• Did you write an inflammatory review that you want to delete?
• Do you want to turn off Recommendations and remove all reviews from your Facebook page?

We’ll answer each of these questions in this step-by-step guide.

Can’t you just ignore bad Facebook reviews?

Absolutely not.

Customers overwhelmingly turn to business reviews before they hand over their hard-earned cash. Don’t believe me? Here are some Facebook review statistics to prove it:

• 90 percent of consumers look at online reviews before they visit a business.
• 84 percent of people trust them as much as they would trust a personal recommendation.
• 2 in 3 Facebook users visit local business pages at least once a week.
• 1 in 3 people use the platform to look for Recommendations.

Therefore, as a business owner, it’s vital for you to handle Facebook reviews that don’t reflect your company.

If your Facebook page contains unanswered bad reviews, potential customers could slip through your fingers. Take a guess at how much one bad review could cost your business?

FYI – A bad corporate reputation costs corporations hundreds of millions of dollars. Want proof? One CEO’s reputation cost his company more than 96 million dollars within a few hours.

How to report and remove fake Facebook reviews

Facebook should remove certain reviews and Recommendations automatically. For example, spam content and hate speech violate Facebook’s community standards and will be deleted. In addition, any review that is totally irrelevant to your business, such as those that neglect to mention you at all, should also qualify for unprompted removal.

But false reviews may go undetected. Don’t worry. Here’s a few tricks to pick them out.

Tips to spot fake reviews on Facebook

If you find suspicious reviews on your Facebook page, first make sure they’re legitimate. Check your records and verify that the transactions happened the way the customers claim. Can you find records of the customers? Do your transaction logs match up with their descriptions? If not, you might be dealing with fake Facebook reviews.

Fraudulent negative reviews can stem from a number of sources: competing businesses, resentful former employees, spammers, people who mistakenly post their review on the wrong business page, etc. Here are several ways to identify frauds:

• Vague descriptions
• Reviewer is connected with a competitor (or former employee)
• Recommending a competitor in the complaint

Regardless of whether or not bad Facebook reviews are true, you should respond to all of them.

Start with an apology. Then mention that you’re unable to find a record of his or her transaction. This will send a message to fraudulent commenters that you’re onto their game while still showing off your excellent customer service. Outright calling the complaint fake could backfire and make other customers trust you less.

After responding, the next step is to report them. Here’s how:

Steps to report fake Facebook reviews

• Navigate to the Reviews tab of your business page.
• Click the three horizontal dots in the upper right-hand corner of the review.
• Click “Give feedback on this recommendation.”

Alternatively, you can simply click on the word bubble with the exclamation point.

Facebook will ask you “What’s going on,” and you’ll need to select one of the following choices:

• Recommendation Not Relevant (used for fake and/or irrelevant reviews)
• Unfair Recommendation (used for suspected paid reviews)
• Nudity, Violence, Harassment, Suicide or Self-Injury, Spam, Drugs and Hate Speech.

Select the most suitable reason and provide more details if asked to do so. Here’s what the popup looks like:

Once you’ve done this, all that’s left to do is wait. Unfortunately, there’s no concrete amount of time for how long it will take to determine the fate of the review. The only reports guaranteed to be resolved in a timely manner are those that contain threats or other illegal content. You will be notified as to whether the review will be taken down or not once the reporting process has been completed.

How to remove a bad review on facebook

Unfortunately, you can’t remove reviews from Facebook that someone else wrote if they’re truthful. Your only hope of getting them taken down is to fix the situation through diplomacy or stellar customer service. If you’re able to make amends with the customer, they may delete their own review for you.

In cases where you can’t fix the problem, you should at least respond to the customer complaint to tell your side of the story.

Advice for responding to negative Facebook reviews

If your business did something to garner a negative review, follow the proper etiquette to win back the customer’s trust. If you handle the situation gracefully, your customer might even delete the original review. At the very least, you should “like” the review. But if you want a chance at winning back their patronage, you’ll need to respond.

Acknowledge their disappointment or anger, offer a heartfelt apology. Then take action to make the situation right. Try to see the review as a chance for you to increase your transparency on social media and show off your excellent customer service.

How to handle bad star ratings

Star-only ratings still appear on Facebook business pages even though they’re no longer accepted. That’s bad news for businesses because only feedback that includes a comment can be reported. Since you can’t remove fake Facebook reviews that don’t have comments, the best way to handle bad star reviews is, again, to respond.

Ask the person who posted the rating to tell you how you could improve your business. Even if they don’t respond, this at least shows the other users scrolling down your page that you’re willing to go above and beyond to refine your customer experience.

How to remove all reviews on your Facebook page

I know what you’re thinking…

Why would anyone want to remove positive reviews from their Facebook page? Because that’s the fastest and easiest way to hide bad Facebook reviews that could damage your reputation .

Let’s face it; sometimes a business goes through a rough patch. Maybe a defective product was recalled, or a store manager consistently provided terrible customer service. Meanwhile, angry customers flooded your Facebook page with piles of authentic one-star online reviews.

But you took action and fixed everything that was wrong. Your products are top-notch and customer service has never been better. Maybe you even received a few positive reviews. Yet, the negative comments just won’t go away and they’re ruining your brand reputation .

While it’s always best to remove inappropriate reviews when possible, this process can take a while. Small businesses may not be able to wait for them to be taken down. If that’s the case, your best course of action may be to simply turn off Recommendations entirely.

Follow these steps to remove reviews from Facebook

• From your Facebook business page, click “Settings.”

• Scroll down to find “Reviews” and click the “Settings” button.

It’s important to note that turning off Recommendations won’t delete Facebook reviews, it just hides them. That means if you decide to turn them back on again, all the negative ones will return.

How to delete a review you wrote on Facebook

Luckily it’s super easy to remove a review from Facebook if you wrote it. Just find the review in question, click the three horizontal dots in the top right and select “Delete.” If you’d like to edit your review instead, click “Edit Review.” If only everything else in life were so simple.

Check other review sites

Even when you’re doing everything right, things can still go wrong. Therefor you should constantly monitor all online review platforms for trouble. If you’ve got issues with Facebook, you may also need to:

• Remove Google reviews
• Get rid of Yelp complaints
• Address criticism on Ripoff Report

Push down negative results

Undesirable reviews are often part of doing business. In most cases, complaints are legitimate, and you won’t be able to remove them. That means you’ll need to invest in reputation management to handle them. This post explains how to push down negative search results .

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• Social Media

How To Disable Reviews on a Facebook Page

Jamie Read more February 16, 2022

Any company in 2021 is subject to online reviews that can either make or break their business. Being troubled with trolls or a campaign trying to discredit your business online? This tutorial will show you how to disable reviews on Facebook and how to handle negative feedback so you still come out on top regardless of what is said.

Reviews, or social proof, as they are otherwise known are incredibly powerful. Few people buy anything online without checking reviews first and seeing negative reviews, even one bad review with 99 positive ones is enough to put some purchasers off.

If you run a business, Facebook is an essential part of your marketing mix. With billions of users, multiple ways to interact with customers, a two-way conversation with your fans, and lots of methods you can use for engagement, why would not you use it?

There are obvious downsides though. The same trolls and jerks that make Facebook difficult to use as a private citizen can also be the same with businesses. Facebook is also used to discredit some businesses on purpose by review bombing and through coordinated campaigns of social media marketing.

Search for ‘buy negative Facebook reviews’ online and see the dozens of companies offering to sell negative reviews. For not a lot of money, you can buy negative reviews to supposedly counter the raft of positive reviews to make your profile more realistic. In reality, those services are used to discredit competitors. Nobody thinks for a second that any business would ever purposely add negative feedback to their own account.

How to Disable Reviews on Facebook

It is possible to disable reviews or to report and remove fake ones. Most would suggest removing fake ones and leaving reviews enabled. If you are continually targeted by fakes, disabling them altogether may be the only way.

To disable feedback:

When you’ve completed these steps, viewers of your Facebook page will no longer see any reviews.

This is the nuclear option as reviews are important to buying decisions but if you have no choice, that’s how you disable them.

Report a Fake Review on Facebook

If you only suffer a few fake reviews, you would be much better off tackling them instead of turning off feedback. Here’s how:

• Open Facebook and navigate to your Facebook page.

If you have ever dealt with Facebook before, you won’t have much hope that anything will happen. However, you have to follow the process and let the company do anything or nothing before taking it further.

Handling Negative or Fake Reviews

The measure of a business is not how it handles day-to-day operations but how it handles itself when things go wrong. Your first instinct might be anger, despair, and a desire for revenge but none of those things will work on Facebook.

Handling Real Negative Facebook Reviews

The key to handling negative reviews is to do it calmly and professionally. Replying with a rant is not going to win you any new customers or increased loyalty. However, if you address the problem at hand, offer to work with the customer to ensure their satisfaction, and act professionally and appropriately, the negative review can actually be made to work for you instead of against you.

It is good for customers to see how a company handles criticism. If you do it professionally and rise above any vitriol spilled in a review, you come out on top. Offer to work with the customer to make sure they are happy, you reassure all customers that even if things go wrong, you’ve got their back. That is worth many positive reviews.

However, the company is taking steps to keep these fake review accounts from doing any damage to innocent businesses. Just recently, the company removed over 16,000 accounts for this type of behavior.

Handling Fake Facebook Reviews

Handling fake reviews is slightly different but can also be turned on its head. Being honest and upfront with your customers about what is happening and asking them to leave positive reviews to counter the fakes can work.

It isn’t guaranteed to work though. Not all businesses have that kind of customer loyalty and not everyone will want to leave a review. Placing a reply to each fake marking it as such can go a long way to managing the situation.

Fake reviews are something of a plague on Facebook and other review sites. As many companies are spending resources on combating hate speech, fake news, and higher-profile issues, fewer resources are placed with other customer service areas.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can i delete a review.

Unfortunately, there’s no ‘delete’ button on a Facebook review. Your only option is to report a review or to respond back to it politely and professionally.

If I disable reviews will the existing reviews disappear?

Yes, until you turn them back on again. If someone really has it out for your business it may be a good idea to disable reviews and allow customers to post their true testimony about your company on your wall.

How can I get more reviews?

Good reviews are great advertising. If you do have one or two bad ones, getting more good ones can bring your score up. To get more reviews you can ask your patrons to leave a review. Some companies will even offer a discount for such a return of gratitude.

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Disclaimer: Some pages on this site may include an affiliate link. This does not effect our editorial in any way.

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How to Turn Off Reviews on Facebook

Published: June 07, 2022

Sometimes, the mantra "all publicity is good publicity" isn’t true. Negative reviews can damage the reputation of your business, and when you’re working tirelessly to improve your service or product — while still trying to bring in sales — it’s understandable to want to turn off Facebook reviews when the complaints get overwhelming.

According to HubSpot Research, 85% of customers are likely to share negative experiences with others. For businesses trying to resolve problems without having too much bad press, having no reviews visible on certain platforms can be a better solution.

You’re not alone, businesses go through rough patches sometimes, and there’s steps to take to silence the noise. Today, we’ll walk you through how to turn off reviews on Facebook, and give you reasons why you should, or shouldn’t, remove them.

• Open Facebook and go to your business page.
• Click the ‘Settings’ menu for your business page.
• Select ‘Templates and Tabs’ option.
• Toggle the blue ‘Reviews’ button off.

1. Open Facebook and go to your business page.

If you own more than one business page, you want to make sure you select the page you want to disable Facebook reviews for.

2. Click the ‘Settings’ menu for your business page.

When you click on Settings, you’ll be taken to a selection of choices all under the umbrella of Page Settings.

3. Select ‘Templates and Tabs’ option.

4. Toggle the blue ‘Reviews’ button off.

Once you have toggled the button, it will be the color gray, indicating that you’ve successfully turned off reviews. This action is saved automatically, so your customers won’t see or be able to post any reviews on your page moving forward.

Turning off Facebook reviews is a big call to make that can have both positive and negative implications. Before making that decision, it's important to consider both how your business is faring as a whole and how your audience is perceiving you as a result.

Why You Should Disable Facebook Reviews

There are going to be points when business isn't booming — ugly stretches where you're prone to an influx of bad reviews. Some reasons to consider turning them off would be:

• The bad reviews were a product of isolated incidents. You could be subject to a product recall or an employee of yours might have provided particularly poor customer service before you became hip to their behavior and replaced them.
• The public's perception of your business can be volatile. There's a good chance you won't want to be bombarded with disgruntled customers venting frustrations before you have the chance to address them.
• You can't selectively delete reviews on Facebook. So long as they're not inappropriate, obscene, or flat-out false. And even if that's the case, that process can still take a while to see through.

If your business is in a rough patch that you're working tirelessly to address, it might be in your best interest to turn off Facebook reviews until you're on the side of it.

On another hand, there’s some positive reasons to keep them up even if they’re not the ratings you want, and it’s worth considering before you turn them off.

Reasons to Keep Reviews on Facebook

1. reviews add legitimacy to your business..

Reviews — good or bad — provide a degree of legitimacy to your business. They let potential customers know that others engage with your company and imply that you care about customer feedback.

2. You can respond to customer reviews or feedback.

Keeping reviews up also provides you with the opportunity to respond to customer reviews and feedback. You get to say your piece and let prospects and customers know that you hear them. You can demonstrate that you understand where they're coming from and are willing to take the necessary steps to address the issues and concerns they're raising.

3. Prospects like to see testimonials.

Even if all your customer reviews aren’t a perfect five-star rating, your customers will value the ability to read customer review testimonials . Turning off Facebook reviews can possibly kneecap your perceived authenticity. Sometimes it might be better to face the music and explicitly let your audience know the specific strides you plan on taking to make things right.

Disable Facebook Reviews If You Need To

Turning off Facebook reviews is a process that should take a lot of thought and consideration. It's up to you to decide whether taking harsh reviews on the chin or keeping things calm until you have your business in order suits your situation better. No matter which route you take, it's helpful to know how to shut Facebook reviews down — just in case they get to be too much.

Editor’s note: This article was originally published in July 2020 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.

Don't forget to share this post!

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How to Remove Facebook Reviews in 2023? Step-by-Step Guide

There are a lot of reasons why you might remove Facebook reviews from your business page. However, going about this task is not as simple as you'd think—especially in 2023, as Facebook community standards continue to evolve.

Maybe your business has gotten a few customers who are bad for business and always leave bad feedback. You may be getting negative reviews unrelated to your business, from non-genuine customers, or violating community standards.

No matter the reason, you need to know how to get rid of Facebook reviews to ensure your potential customers are not influenced by a non-legitimate customer's negative experience or fake reviews. 

In this article, we'll provide step-by-step instructions on how to remove Facebook online reviews in 2023. We'll also explain what Facebook's community standards say is inappropriate content and how to turn off reviews on your profile.

We'll also look at alternative solutions when removing reviews from Facebook is not an option. So, if you're looking for the best ways to manage your online reputation, let's get started.

Can you delete a review on Facebook? 

Yes, you can delete a Facebook review from your business page in 2023. However, the process of doing so is more complex than it used to be.

Facebook wants to ensure each user has the right to publish factual feedback of businesses who use their platform. Whether it's a positive recommendation, or a perceived unfair review based on poor service by the business. 

One misconception about this social media platform is that business owners can remove any false reviews for whatever reason. That's not entirely accurate. 

It's good to remember that any user who has left a review can choose to report it if they feel that their review has been unfairly removed.

So, always look at Facebook's community standards before deleting any customer complaint. 

If you decide that the content in the review is inappropriate or violates any of Facebook's policies, go ahead and delete it. Once you have removed the review, you can use the "Report" feature to report it to Facebook for further investigation.

4 Reasons you might want to remove Facebook reviews from your business profile 

As we said above, you should think carefully about whether or not to remove a review from your Facebook business page. Many times, the feedback you think is bad is legitimate based on some deficiencies in your operation.

If you remove a former customer's inappropriate reviews without due cause, it could go against you if the user thinks their review was justified.

Users have rights as well, one of which is to file a complaint with Facebook based on the business reviews action.

However, there are some valid reasons why you should remove individual reviews from your Facebook business profile.

Reason #1 – The review is not relevant to your business

One of the most common reasons you should remove a review from your Facebook business page is if it has nothing to do with your business. These are called irrelevant reviews. This happens quite often, especially if your Facebook business page is public.

There are some Facebook users who are toxic and will go out of their way to provide negative feedback just because they can. This type of objectionable content or a one-star review, can negatively impact your business's social proof, which is a key element to proactive online reputation management. 

As such, if a user posts something that is not related to what you offer,  and thus, not a legitimate review, then it's time for it to go.

Reason #2 – The review was not published by a genuine customer

Another reason to remove a review is if it was not published by an actual customer. This often happens when a business owner or their friends post reviews to boost the ratings on their page.

Facebook and other review sites have strict rules that say business employees and family members can't boost ratings. If you are caught permitting this action, it can lead to significant penalties.

To be protective of your business's online credibility, any reviews that don't come from genuine customers should be removed from your page.

Reason #3 – The reviewer has a long history of negative only feedback

We all know that one person always has something negative to say and never posts anything positive. Unfortunately, these types of customers can do a great deal of harm to your business's reputation.

If you find that a user's reviews and feedback are mostly negative, the best thing to do is to remove all of them from your page. Genuine customer feedback that is not perfect is acceptable. And it's important to respond to these reviews in a positive and professional manner. 

But, if you find that users are only there to talk bad about your business, you are within your rights to delete and ban them from your page. 

Reason #4 – The content in the review is hostile or against community standards

Finally, if you find that the content in a review is hostile or goes against Facebook's community standards, you should delete it immediately. Graphic content has no place on Facebook or any other public review forum. 

Hate speech and other inappropriate content can do a lot of damage to the image of your brand. This type of feedback can also impact a new visitor's purchase decision. Getting rid of these kinds of reviews before they are reported is key to keeping a good online reputation and getting customers to like your brand.

What Facebook's community standards consider as inappropriate content 

When it comes to real reviews being removed from your Facebook business page, you should always make sure that it is in accordance with the social networking site's community standards. These rules are meant to protect users and make sure they can use their platform in a safe way online.

These four rules are some of the most common community standards that you should think about when deciding if something is wrong - so your page visitors can make an informed purchase decision. 

Rule #1 – Threats of violence 

Threats of violence against a person or a group of people are not allowed in any content. All these kinds of posts should be reported to Facebook and taken down from your page right away.

Rule #2 – Hate speech

Hate speech about any race, ethnicity, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, or gender identity will be flagged and taken down. Additionally, any posts that belittle or demean a group of people should also be deleted from your page.

Rule #3 – Bullying and harassment

Bullying or harassing people is not allowed on Facebook, and any content that is thought to be bullying or harassing will be flagged and taken down. If you find that any reviewer is posting content that is designed to offend or hurt another person, then you should delete it as soon as possible.

Rule #4 – Spam

Finally, any posts or reviews that contain spam will be flagged by Facebook and taken off your page. This also includes content with false information, misleading language, fake ads, and links to websites that are harmful.

These are just some of the more common community standards that should be considered when it comes to removing reviews from your Facebook page. Always make sure to double-check any content posted on your page before deciding whether it should stay up.  

How to request a Facebook review removal?

If you find that a review on your page violates any of the above rules, you can report it to Facebook. This will flag the content and alert Facebook's moderators that there might be something wrong with this post.

1) To begin the reporting process, visit your business page and locate the review in question.

2) Then click the three dots in the top right corner of the review and select "Report."

3) Once you've told Facebook about a review, their team will look into it and take action as needed.

If they decide that the content doesn't break any community rules or give out false information, it will stay on your page.

How to turn off reviews on Facebook in 2 easy steps

Removing reviews from your Facebook page can be a time-consuming process, but there are some steps you can take to make it easier. Here are the steps you should take to turn off reviews on Facebook in 2023:

Step 1: Start by going to your business page and clicking "Settings."

Step 2: Next, click on "Edit Page" and then select "Manage Reviews." On this page, you will find the option to turn off reviews. Click that button, and you're done!

Turning off reviews on Facebook is a great way to protect your page from inappropriate content or spam. With this feature, you can make sure that everything you post on your page follows the rules and won't get taken down by Facebook.

What if removing reviews from Facebook is not an option?

Unfortunately, there are times when removing reviews from Facebook is simply not an option. Even the best social media marketing agencies or digital marketing experts can struggle with knowing when or if to remove a review. 

The goal of any online review platform is to generate factual reviews from active users of your services or products. These reviews can influence potential clients, so you want to ensure to resolve reviews that showcase your business in a negative light in a professional way. 

In these situations, the best thing to do is to be proactive and respond to the bad review to stop any more damage. Here are a few ways you can mitigate questionable reviews with excellent customer service on display. 

Option #1: Respond to negative feedback

The first choice is to respond to the bad review and answer any questions or concerns that the angry customers brought up. This method gives you a chance to show how much you care about quality service and how seriously you take their feedback.

Option #2 – Try to resolve the negative reviewer's issue

Another option is to try and resolve the issue that caused the negative review by disgruntled customers in the first place. If you can address the dissatisfied customer's grievances, then it might be possible for them to change their opinion about your business.

Option #3 - Ask a customer to edit or delete their review

If you're able to resolve the issue that the negative reviewer had with your business, you could ask the customer to edit or remove their bad review. While this might not be ideal, it can help to prevent other customers from seeing the negative opinion and forming an unfavorable impression of your business.

Option #4 – Use reputation management software to increase positive reviews

Lastly, learn how to get Facebook reviews using software solutions like ReviewsOnMyWebsite to manage your reputation and help get more good reviews on your page. This will increase the number of positive reviews, which can make up for any negative ones and keep your overall rating high.

Leverage feedback and reviews to improve your online reputation

Get more online reviews and turn your customers into raving fans with ReviewsOnMyWebsite review generation software.

Start a 14-day free trial

How long does it take Facebook to remove a reported review?

It depends on the nature of the review and how quickly Facebook's moderators can respond to your request. Generally, it could take anywhere from a few days to several weeks for a reported review to be taken down. The important thing is to report the review on time so that the moderators can respond quickly.

How long does it take to disable Facebook reviews?

Disabling reviews on Facebook is a relatively easy process that should only take a few minutes. Once you have turned off the feature, any reviews that have already been posted will no longer be visible on your page.

What should I do while I wait for Facebook to remove a review?

You can start a positive review program while you wait for Facebook to remove a review. With an automated software like ReviewsOnMyWebsite, you can ask current customers to leave a review. This will help to balance out any negative feedback and make sure your overall rating stays high.

How long do reviews stay on Facebook?

Once a review is posted on your page, it will remain visible unless you remove it or choose to disable the reviews feature. With that said, Facebook's algorithms could decide to hide some reviews if they are inappropriate or seem like spam.

If you block someone on Facebook, will it remove their review?

Blocking someone on Facebook will not automatically remove their review. But you can tell Facebook's moderation team that the review is wrong, and depending on what it says, it may be taken down.

Key takeaways

Facebook is a powerful tool used by many businesses to connect with their current and future customers. However, most consumers these days judge the quality of a local business or service provider based on the quality of their overall ratings and direct customer reviews.

Using a flexible and automated solution like ReviewsOnMyWebsite permits a business with a Facebook page to send SMS and email review invites to their past and current customers. The business can insert a direct link to their review page, which permits the customer to quickly leave a rating or review with a single click.

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How to turn off Facebook recommendations and reviews (and why it might not be a good idea)

In business, reputation is everything. While it may take years to build, it can be struck down in a matter of hours. In today’s digital world, online reputation matters as much, if not more, than offline. Critical reviews that appear across social media can be hugely damaging. What’s more, critical reviews can sometimes be inaccurate and unfair. 

There are some 90 million business pages on Facebook and 140 million businesses use Facebook to promote their products and services further.

What are Facebook Recommendations and Reviews?

These are customer business recommendations and reviews posted to a business’s Facebook page. Facebook recently relaunched their Reviews as Recommendations. Recommendations only provide the option to recommend, or not recommend your business. A positive recommendation automatically gets a 5 star rating and a critical recommendation a 1 star rating.

In many cases, Facebook Recommendations allow customers to share their positive experience with your business. Customers can indicate whether they recommend your business to others, something that is often seen as a powerful endorsement. As a result, businesses can enjoy increased sales and even improved local SEO rankings as your business is mentioned, rated and reviewed.

On the flip side, Facebook Recommendations also provide an outlet for unhappy customers to share their experience (and to say that they would not recommend your business to others). 

There may be times when you want to remove a Facebook Recommendation. This could be for a fake or spam recommendation, or due to entirely inappropriate or inaccurate information that could damage your brand. Just bear in mind though that it is very difficult to get a recommendation removed once posted.

How to remove Facebook Recommendation

When you find recommendations that you believe require removal from your Facebook Page (i.e. they are fake), you’ll need to flag them and notify Facebook immediately. It’s not possible to delete them yourself.

In order for the Facebook team to check the recommendation, it will need to be reported. It’s worth pointing out that only recommendations with a comment on them can be reported. The Facebook team recommend that your business should comment constructively on any critical recommendation, even those you deem to be fake. This will then enable you to flag and report the recommendation accordingly and also show others that you are attempting to solve the problem in a constructive manner. Avoid calling out the fake recommendation publicly as this can appear defensive and also sow distrust amongst your audience. 

Follow these straightforward steps to get the recommendation flagged with Facebook: 

1. Find the recommendation you want to remove. 

2. Navigate to the top right-hand corner and click on the three dots. A drop-down menu will pop up and select “Find support or report Recommendation.”

3. Click the option most relevant for you and hit “Send”.

The review is now registered with Facebook. Once they review your complaint, if they find the review to be fraudulent or against Facebook’s Community Standards, the team will remove it directly from your Business page.

Why you might not want to report and remove critical recommendation

We have talked lots on this blog about the importance of responding to all customer feedback and recommendation, even the bad ones ! A genuine critical recommendation isn’t necessarily the end of the world. In many cases, this feedback can allow your business to make important changes and grow as a result. A full complement of 5-star recommendations is often mistrusted by consumers too, raising suspicions about fake recommendations.

Rather than removing these critical recommendations, consider responding positively and constructively, addressing the problems and showing that you are making efforts to improve the experience. This will allow others to see that you’re proactive and responsive.

How to hide Facebook Reviews (Recommendations)

If you’re still convinced that Facebook Recommendations aren’t for you, you can hide them entirely rather than removing. Hiding Facebook Reviews doesn’t delete the feedback, but simply hides them from view.  The Facebook tab is still called Reviews, not Recommendations – just to confuse us all 😉

Here’s how you hide, or remove Facebook Recommendations from your Facebook Page step-by-step:

• Go to Settings on your Page
• Click Edit Page
• Scroll down until you find Reviews
• Choose the Settings option (to the right of recommendations)
• Turn Reviews off

If you want to re-enable the recommendations later, go back to the same location and turn them ON again. Having no recommendations visible on your Facebook Page isn’t entirely helpful. You could be missing out on a powerful opportunity to share the experiences of your customers and might not appear as an established, trustworthy business.

Turning off Facebook Reviews is a process that should not be taken lightly. It’s up to you to decide whether taking critical recommendations on the chin or keeping things calm until you have your business in order suits your situation better. No matter which route you take, it’s helpful to know how to shut Facebook Reviews down.

Get more reviews instead

One brilliant way to outnumber and move on from a genuine critical review is to boost the number of customer reviews you receive overall. A platform like HelpfulCrowd can help you build more user-generated content by collecting content-rich customer reviews. This will have the effect of pushing a critical reviews further down the list and boosting your overall rating (so long as your business provides a good level of service to your customers of course). You can also show these alongside your Facebook Recommendations on your website using the HelpfulCrowd widgets. Sign up for a free demo today.

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Removing Negative Facebook Reviews For Your Business - 2024 Guide

Facebook reviews can significantly impact your company’s online reputation and image, for better or worse.

Statistics reveal that as much as 90% of consumers consult reviews before visiting a business, and 84% of people consider online reviews to be as reliable as a personal recommendation.

Positive reviews can go a long way in winning potential customers over to your brand and growing your social media presence.

Unfortunately, there comes a time when every business owner also has to deal with a bad Facebook review or two. Sometimes, these are fake reviews that aim to taint your company’s name.

However, if a negative Facebook review is legitimate, then the situation must be handled tactfully.

In this article, we’ll take a look at how to handle different types of bad reviews - both real and fake.

There are times when business owners have to remove Facebook reviews to protect the company’s image. This may be necessary when your business’ Facebook page receives spam posts, unfair reviews, hate speech, or false reviews that aren’t from real customers.

Can you delete a bad review on Facebook?

How can i delete a review on facebook, can a review be removed, should you respond to or delete negative reviews, examples of responding to facebook reviews, manage facebook reviews with demandhub.

The short answer: yes. But, in order to get a false negative review deleted off your business page, you will have to take the following steps to let Facebook know to take down the review. Only Facebook’s team can remove the reviews, and you can alert them by flagging the reviews.

Step 1: Comment on the review

On Facebook, page owners cannot remove individual reviews themselves. However, users can flag a review to notify Facebook’s team to remove the reviews. But, users can only flag a review if it has at least one comment on it.

Commenting on negative reviews is tricky - the situation needs to be handled with great care. Even if a review is fake, the comment should express an attempt to resolve the problem.

When your legitimate customers read the review, they will know that your company made an effort to fix the issue.

Step 2: Flag the review

To flag a review, navigate to the top-right of the post and select the arrow pointing downward.

Press ‘Report post’, and proceed to explain why you are flagging the review.

Step 3: Wait for Facebook’s team to remove the review

This may take a while, as their team has to manually assess the report.

If the team finds that the review is in violation of Facebook’s Community Standards, they will remove it and no record of the review will remain.

While users can’t delete individual Facebook reviews, there is an extreme option available; removing all of the reviews entirely.

This won’t permanently delete the reviews, but visitors can no longer view them. Deleting your business page’s reviews also means that customers can no longer leave feedback, good or bad unless the reviews are restored.

Here’s how to collectively delete your Facebook reviews:

• Visit your business page and make sure that you’re logged in as a page admin.
• At the page’s top-right corner, select the ‘Settings’ button.
• The page’s left-hand corner has a menu, from which you need to select ‘Templates and Tabs’.
• Scroll to the ‘Reviews’ tab, and select ‘Settings’.
• Finally, navigate to ‘Show Reviews’ towards the right, and a slider will be visible. Click to disable the reviews, and proceed to ‘Save’ the changes. Now, customer reviews and negative feedback will no longer be visible on your Facebook page.

If managed properly, negative reviews can present your business in a positive light and build confidence in your brand.

Potential customers may be cautious about purchasing from stores that showcase only positive business reviews on their Facebook page, as this makes a brand seem less authentic. Thus, sometimes it’s in your company’s favor to keep negative reviews around if the matter has been resolved.

However, if your business is facing unfair negative comments, then removing them might be necessary. If your legitimate customers have left a couple of bad reviews, then it’s important to respond positively as part of customer service.

A good response to negative feedback should address the problem at hand and offer a solution moving forward. This can change your customer’s experience from a negative one to a positive one.

Moreover, it shows potential clients that your company cares about its customers and is serious about resolving problems.

There are many instances where deleting a review might be wise, and even necessary. Sometimes, users abuse the reviews feature to leave fake negative reviews on your Facebook business page. You can determine if a review is fake by checking for the user’s transaction history, and seeing if the complaint is from a legitimate customer or not.

Businesses may also choose to flag reviews because they are in direct violation of Facebook’s Community Standards - e.g the post may contain hate speech.

Some reviews fall under the ‘spam’ category - they may have nothing to do with your products or services, and may be advertisements for other brands and businesses. In this case, you should report the review to have it deleted.

Here are some good examples of businesses responding to Facebook reviews:

Intrepid Travel

Intrepid Travel is the world’s largest adventure travel organization for small groups. In this particular situation, the company has responded to a negative review concerning their cancellation policy.

Intrepid Travel responded with an informative, empathetic reply in which they detailed a breakdown of the expenses and gently pointed out how the policy helps support communities that are suffering from COVID-19’s economic repercussions.

Wendy’s is a popular American fast-food chain that has expanded globally. In this case, a customer has complained about the efficiency of Wendy’s drive-thru service.

The company has responded by first empathizing with the customer’s concern, and then proceeded to offer to make it up to them.

Stella & Dot

Stella & Dot is an accessories company that sells jewelry and lets customers host trunk shows. This particular review is an excellent example of how a positive response and proper care can turn a negative review around in your brand’s favor.

Initially, the customer expressed dissatisfaction concerning Stella & Dot’s product.

The company responded with an apology and proceeded to address the problem and offered a solution.

After the matter was resolved, the client edited their review, changing it from a negative one to positive feedback.

If you’re looking to boost your Facebook page, the best place to start is with online reviews of your business. Build trust with your future customers through the power of word of mouth — online.

At DemandHub, our mission is to help local businesses grow by making it easier to communicate with customers. With modern messaging technology, your local business can text review invitations to your customers, enabling them to post a review with just a few clicks in under 30 seconds.

Request a demo to see how we can help grow your local business with our messaging tools to help you attract, engage, and retain more customers.

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How to Delete a Review on Facebook: Bad Ratings And Reviews

Reputation Staff Writer

Every business owner knows how important online reviews are. A great and positive review from a genuine customer will always be more influential than anything a brand can say about itself. Unfortunately, fake or negative reviews can destroy a business’s credibility.

Managing your Facebook reviews is a cornerstone of online reputation management. Let’s take a look at the value of Facebook reviews and how to remove a bad review on Facebook, should you need to.

The Dark Side of Facebook Business

A one-star rating on Facebook can hurt you. The fake customer review industry has turned away many honest business owners from even trying to build a presence on this massive social media platform. The main risks associated with promoting your business on Facebook include:

• Fake Accounts – Anyone can create an account on Facebook. There’s no verification process, and Facebook pays little attention to fake accounts. It’s why the fake review industry heavily targets this social media network.
• No Vetting – Reviewers can write reviews on anything they want. There’s no way to tell whether they are a genuine customer. It’s also hard to judge if they even made a purchase from your business.
• Removing Reviews From Facebook is Tough – Facebook is extremely lenient towards all but the most abusive of reviewers. Due to this stance, you could receive a one-star review for any reason.

Even with these negatives, Facebook remains a cornerstone of building and marketing your business. For that reason alone, it’s impossible to say that businesses shouldn’t be on Facebook.

Related content on the Reputation blog: How to Respond to a Bad Review on Facebook

Tips for Spotting a Fake Facebook Review

If you find that your business’s page has some suspicious negative Facebook reviews, first make sure that they are legitimate. Review your records to verify transactions with that customer. Can you confirm that events occurred the way they described? Some of the ways to spot fake Facebook reviews include:

• Vague descriptions
• The reviewer is a former employee or is connected with a competitor
• The reviewer recommends a competitor as an alternative in their review

Will Facebook Remove Reviews?

The difficulty when it comes to how to delete a review on Facebook is proving that it’s fake. Here are some of the top signs that a customer review may be fake:

• Poor spelling/grammar
• Overuse of verbs
• No profile picture
• The sudden influx of positive/negative fake reviews
• Use of black and white reasoning

What To Do When You Can’t Delete Facebook Reviews

Knowing how to delete reviews on a Facebook Business page as a regular user is basically impossible. But the good news is you may not need to remove negative reviews. Automatically trying to get a review deleted on Facebook isn’t always your best option because not all negative reviews are necessarily a bad thing. Studies have shown that even potential customers who leave negative reviews can be turned around.

Related content on the Reputation blog: The Facebook Outage: How to Manage a Large Scale Crisis

Respond to a Negative Review

Before thinking about how to remove a 1-star rating on Facebook, consider why that customer left such a bad review in the first place. Responding to an angry customer in the right way isn’t just important for them but for anyone else who may be reading the exchange. We always recommend businesses approach negative reviews with grace and sensitivity. Here are some tips for how to respond to a negative review :

Even if the customer isn’t interested in giving you another chance, the fact that you reached out professionally could win you more business. They already left a bad review; the worst that can happen is the customer says no.

Report Reviews that Go Against Facebook Community Standards

The first option for how to remove a Facebook review is to check whether that review follows Facebook Community Standards. Facebook Community Standards were designed to provide a safe space for users and combat online bullying and harassment. Negative reviews that violate these standards will be removed without hesitation. Pertinent points include:

• No excessive cruelty
• No threats of violence
• No hate speech
• No fake reviews
• No harassment

If you receive a review that you believe violates any of Facebook’s guidelines, report it immediately. Facebook will usually get back to you within 24-72 hours, but it’s not uncommon to receive a response sooner. You’ll be notified of Facebook’s decision in your support inbox.

Related content on the Reputation blog: How to Add Multiple Locations to Your Facebook Business Page

Request that the Review Be Removed

If you believe that a review is fake, you also have the option of reporting it to Facebook. On your business page’s “Reviews” tab, click the three dots in the top right-hand corner of the review you want to report. Then choose “Report Post.”

Your choices will then be: “It has nothing to do with this Page” or “I think it shouldn’t be on Facebook.” Choose an option and then enter some more information before hitting “Submit.”

Unfortunately, Facebook is a flawed system , and there is no guarantee that fake reviews will be removed. If these continue to pile up and harm your business, you can also disable reviews entirely on your page. However, doing so can also weaken your online reputation and your ability to attract and convert customers on Facebook.

Understanding how to delete a review on Facebook and what to do if you can’t is crucial for defending your businesses and customer sentiment. If you’re struggling to get reviews or managing your online reputation, call in the experts. At Reputation, we specialize in supporting businesses large and small in building their brands online.

Take a look at Reputation’s Reviews and Review Booster solution to learn more about the impact of your reviews

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Blog » Social Media » How to Disable Reviews on Your Facebook Page (3 Simple Steps)

How to Disable Reviews on Your Facebook Page (3 Simple Steps)

Everybody loves reading a good review and seeing 5 stars across the board. It can be great for generating more traffic and conversions. However, if you are hovering at a 3.9 or below I would highly recommend simply disabling reviews altogether on your Facebook page. There is no downfall and if you are a local business this will most likely only end up helping you .

Thankfully Facebook does give us this option as opposed to Yelp where if you have bad reviews you are stuck with them. Unless you pay for Yelp advertising and then they will filter your reviews in your favor lol. But that is a different story.

Disable Facebook Reviews

Here is my strategy. Follow the instructions below on how to disable and or turn off the reviews on your Facebook page.

On your Facebook page click into “Settings” at the top.

On the left-hand side click into “Templates and Tabs.”

Scroll down to “Reviews” and toggle reviews to “OFF.” Then click “Save.”

And you’re done! Now the star ratings won’t show anymore and the review tab will now be gone . I think the trade off is worth it to get rid of your bad reviews. Also, Facebook keeps your history. So you can always re-enable it later if you change your mind and all your reviews and ratings will still be there.

As always let me know what you think below!

Brian Jackson

I craft actionable content and develop performance-driven WordPress plugins. Connect on X , subscribe to my newsletter (once a month), or buy me coffee .

30 thoughts on “How to Disable Reviews on Your Facebook Page (3 Simple Steps)”

Thanks for this quick guide Brian. A lot of people leave bad reviews on Facebook even if they haven’t tried your service or product simply because they have time and nothing better to do. You can contact with FB to remove these bad reviews, but this process often takes several weeks. Cheers Tom

There is a real way to remove the reviews but required to take out your address or add a not valid address on the first line. Once you remove your address, you have to come back again to the address section, so now it let you turn of the Reviews if your current address is not valid for facebook. That´s it.

I don’t believe this a good advice. If a business isn’t providing a good service, hence, rated badly, others have a right to know. It will incentive the business to get better. Reviews aren’t are a source of learning for both a business and a the consumers.

Thanks for your comment Raymond! I do agree with you Raymond… However depending on how big your business is, sometimes this is out of the marketers control. And public facing image wise and conversion wise sometimes it makes sense to get rid of it. You don’t want people hitting the FB page, seeing a bad rating, and leaving. I agree with you though, especially for small businesses who have control over why this might be happening. If they are getting bad reviews, there is a problem that needs to be fixed.

Pretty sure that you are not a small business owner. No offense, but in this day and age, people leave bad reviews if they don’t like the coffee in your lobby. More often than not, bad reviews are made up of nothing about your business and everything to do with how someone is ‘feeling’ on the day. Unnecessary remarks can hurt any small business and ratings from one disgruntled person can affect solid future business. Not at all a learning tool.

This doesn’t work anymore, star-rating got removed under map options:

now is their any possibilities of disabling the reviews option in facebook page…

You can’t. Reviews can’t be blocked/hidden, you have to accept them and I think that’s pretty stupid. Comments can be deleted and the users banned but still… if you get a storm of haters/trolls you’re screwed.

Hi. I can’t see the reviews and ratings on my page anymore. They have dissapeared. I have tried editing the address and checking the box which says ‘Show map and Check-ins on the page’ but there’s no sign of the ratings and reviews of anymore. Could you please help?

Confirmed. The option no longer includes the ability to turn off star ratings.

Hey, looking for an answer to this as we are an educational charity so the reviews tab is not really applicable for us. Any idea how to remove? Thanks!

I would change your page type, this can get rid of the stars.

How do you change your page type and what type would you change it to? Mine is Private non-profit school. Thanks

To confirm – it sounds like we’re no longer able to remove the reviews feature, correct?

That is correct, unfortunately this no longer works. I have now updated the post above with a message. If I find a new work around I will update the post. Thanks

That’d be great! I need mine gone for HIPAA purposes.

That’s originally why I wrote this, because at the time I was doing marketing for a pain management company and we had patients mentioning Doctor’s names which is a no no lol.

Yes, we don’t solicit reviews, but they post them anyway. Yikes!!

Hey Dominica, what did you end up doing? Also, Brian, where did you find that this is in direct violation of HIPAA? It’s not Public Health Information when disclosed by the patient. But this is also the reason why I am looking into disabling reviews. Really appreciate your guys’ insight on this.

The workaround doesn’t seem to work anymore, either. When I went to remove the map, check-ins, and star reviews, it didn’t give me the ability to remove the star reviews. My review section is being spammed, so I was trying to get rid of it.

The solution that worked for me is to uncheck the map box and remove your entire address. Once you do this save it. Then return to the address page and their should be a box that states something along the lines of “your address is incomplete so people cannot check in here, do you want to remove the ability to check in completely?”. Click yes to this. This will remove reviews and the ability to check in. We don’t need people to check in so it does not matter, if it does to you this may not be your solution. We did not have to change our business type or anything for this to work. Best of luck.

did you re add your address? I got the reviews gone but I wanted to be able to put my address back on my page

i did add my address back but not the full address in second line do not select the address facebook recommended, just make you own one a slice difference.

The punisher is right! It worked!!

@brianleejackson:disqus it worked for me, i mixed it up, first i changed the Category and Sub Category, then removed the address completely and removed the check box, after that i got the prompt to remove the check-in option. Now i don’t have any shitty reviews :)

Your comment about HIPAA is incorrect. Patients cannot violate HIPAA. Only professionals violate it. It is a violation for a medical professional to mention a patient’s name or any identifying information, but not the other way around.

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They have made it very easy now. Just go to “Settings” under the page you manage and go down to “Reviews”. Click edit to allow or disable.

Will this solution remove the reviews page even from Google Search? We have disabled the review functionality so reviews are not visible on the Facebook page however if at the end of the Facebook url I put /reviews this comes up in Google search. I need to be able to remove the review page from search listings.

Has anybody found a work around to remove a particular review but leave the star ratings visible? I’m an agent for my company and have a review that is good for me, but bad for my company.

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Updated February 8, 2023 - Originally Published on May 25, 2021

How Businesses Can Remove a Bad Review on Facebook

This page has been  peer-reviewed, fact-checked, and edited by qualified attorneys  to ensure substantive accuracy and coverage.

In today’s digital world, online reviews on social media sites like Facebook can be pivotal for your business. Fake and negative reviews can do catastrophic damage to your online reputation—which is why it is critical to know how to remove a bad review on Facebook .

To hide or remove a bad Facebook review from your business page , you can:

• Report the review if it violates Facebook’s community standards,
• Report the reviewer as a fake account, or
• Turn reviews off completely by navigating to your page’s settings, clicking Templates and Tabs, and toggling Reviews to “off.”

At Minc Law, we frequently help our clients deal with negative online reviews and publicity. We have extensive experience eliminating and removing damaging online reviews as quickly and efficiently as possible, without drawing unwanted attention or worsening the situation.

In this article, we discuss how to report a fake Facebook review, what circumstances constitute a violation of Facebook’s community standards, how to respond to bad reviews , and how to disable reviews from your Facebook account entirely if necessary.

Dealing with fake business reviews?

Let us help you explore your removal options and craft an effective strategy.

How to Report Fake Facebook Reviews

As one of the most popular social media channels in the world, Facebook is extremely susceptible to social media defamation , including fake reviews. Disgruntled customers, competitors, or even bored social media users may find it all too easy to create an anonymous account and assault your brand with fake and misleading reviews.

Video: What to Do If You Are the Target of Social Media Defamation

Thankfully, as a business owner, you have recourse. Below, we explain how to recognize, report, and remove bad reviews below.

How Much Damage Can a Fake Facebook Review Do to Your Reputation?

As a business in the digital age, your online reputation cannot be understated. And reviews of your business are quickly becoming one of the most influential pieces of word-of-mouth marketing that potential customers check to decide whether to do business with you.

In fact, 90% of customers who researched a business online cited positive reviews as a factor in their eventual decision to buy the product.

But just as positive reviews can influence customers to purchase, negative reviews (even fake ones) can have a devastating effect on your business. According to one 2018 Reviewtrackers study, 94% of respondents stated that an online review has convinced them to avoid a business.

Since most internet users will not be able to spot a false review, a fake negative review of your business has the potential to do lasting damage to your business and bottom line.

How Do You Report a Fake Facebook Review?

Generally, there are three ways to report reviews:

• Report the review as a member of the general public;
• Report the review through your Facebook business page; or
• Report the reviewer as a fake account.

Regardless of the reporting option you choose for a fake review, be aware that Facebook generally does not remove reviews unless they contain words or a comment . So if a reviewer simply left a one-star review or rating without comment, you need to comment on it yourself before reporting that review. Otherwise, your report will be ignored.

Option 1: Report Facebook Reviews as a Member of the General Public

On every review, there are three dots in the top right corner. Click those dots to get started. Press the last option, titled either “find support” or “report recommendation.”

You can then send a report based on your recommendation.

If you reported the review for a community standards violation, Facebook’s administrators will first confirm that to be the case. If they agree with your assessment, they will remove the post.

Option 2: Report Facebook Reviews Through Your Facebook Business Page

The second way to report a Facebook review is to report it as a business owner through your business page portal.

This reporting process is the same as Option 1 above, except that you are reporting it as the business owner. Simply click the three dots in the top right corner of the review, select “find support” or ”report recommendation,” and select the reason for reporting the post.

Option 3: Report the Reviewer as a Fake Account

Finally, when individuals post fake reviews, they sometimes create false accounts to do so. Facebook’s community standards do not allow fake accounts, so reporting the account is another way to have the review removed.

If you have reason to believe the reviewer is using a fake account, you can report the user’s account as false.

To report a fake Facebook account, simply:

• Navigate to the profile of the fake account,
• Click under the cover photo and select “Find support or report profile,” and
• Follow the on-screen instructions for fake accounts to file a report.

Reporting a fake Facebook account is an effective way to not only combat internet defamation but Facebook sextortion as well.

When Will Facebook Remove Fake Reviews?

Facebook will remove fake reviews when the review team confirms that the review is completely unfair, or if it contains one of the following types of content that constitutes a violation of Facebook’s community standards.

Violence & Criminal Behavior

Facebook removes language that incites or facilitates serious violence. Posts that fall under this category include statements with a credible threat to the public or personal safety or those that coordinate harm or publicize a crime.

Groups or individuals that are involved in terrorist activity, organized crime, murder, or human trafficking are also banned from having a Facebook presence.

While Facebook does allow users to share experiences and raise awareness of issues such as self-harm or suicide, the platform does not allow posts in celebration or promotion of these ideas. Posts about exploitation (sexual or otherwise) and bullying or harassment are also expressly prohibited.

Facebook also removes content that reveals personally identifiable information and financial, residential, or medical information that could lead to physical or financial harm.

Objectionable Content

Facebook agrees to remove content that would be considered objectionable and disturbing to a reasonable audience. Content Facebook defines as objectionable includes hate speech, violent and graphic content, adult nudity and sexual activity, and sexual solicitation.

Integrity & Authenticity

Misleading and inauthentic behavior is also discouraged by Facebook. Users are required to create accounts in their own name, not a pseudonym or fake identity. Spamming, cyberattacks, spreading fake news and manipulated media, and misrepresentations of identity are also banned.

Respecting Intellectual Property

While posters own the content they post on Facebook, that content can be removed if it violates another person’s intellectual property rights (ex. copyright infringement ). Posting content that violates copyrights, trademarks, and other legal rights are prohibited in Facebook’s Terms of Service.

Content-Related Requests & Decisions

Finally, Facebook removes accounts if the user requests the removal of their own account, or if a deceased user’s immediate family member or executor requests the account’s removal. Incapacitated users’ accounts can also be removed at the request of an authorized representative.

Additionally, Facebook will comply with requests for removal of an underage account, government requests for removal of child abuse imagery, or legal guardian requests for removal of attacks on unintentionally famous minors.

How Can You Tell if a Review on Facebook is Fake?

Reporting a fake review or fake profile is only useful if you have a way to tell if the review is false in the first place. For this purpose, it is helpful to keep detailed business records so that you can consult your customer database or transaction records when a negative customer review does appear on your Facebook page.

Does that negative review come from an account username that matches or closely resembles an existing customer? Do you have a customer complaint “on file” that seems to match the events recounted in the review? If so, perhaps a reply with deft customer service skills can resolve the issue.

If the review does not appear to align with any of your business records, it may indeed be fake. In that case, check the user’s profile. Look for the following red flags indicating a fake online review :

• Was the account created on the same day as—and apparently for the sole purpose of—the review itself?
• Is the account username a play on words, such as “Seymore Butts”?
• When a reverse image search is conducted of the user’s profile picture, was it clearly copied from somewhere else?
• Is the language of the review riddled with grammatical errors or inaccurate descriptions of the service or product your business provides?

How to Remove a Bad Review on Facebook

While some negative Facebook reviews are made by anonymous posters with fake accounts, not all bad reviews are necessarily fake ones.

As a local business owner, it is important to understand your options when presented with a negative and potentially harmful review that you cannot prove is false.

When Can You Not Remove a Bad Review on Facebook?

Generally, Facebook will not remove a negative review unless it is a flagrant and/or obvious violation of Facebook’s community standards.

In all other cases, Facebook will most likely not take down the review. The review will remain connected to your page unless you take action through one of the steps below, or the author removes the review themselves.

How Do You Remove a One-Star Rating on Facebook?

There are usually only three ways to deal with a one-star review on Facebook:

• Convince the original poster to remove it, either voluntarily through customer service response, or involuntarily through litigation;
• Report the post to Facebook and ask them to remove it for a violation of the community standards; or
• Encourage actual customers and clients to post positive reviews, which will improve your rating.

Even if a negative review has not been posted, we recommend that all businesses proactively obtain as many positive reviews as is ethical and practical for online reputation management purposes. After all, the more positive reviews your business has, the less of an impact a negative review will make on your online reputation .

Online Reputation Management Fact: Online reputation management (ORM) is a set of strategies and tools that enables individuals and businesses to take direct control over the search results that appear when someone Googles their name. ORM may be the right choice for you if negative online content about you is newsworthy, related to a serious crime, or viral.

How to Remove a Bad Rating on Facebook Marketplace

Many Facebook users sell items on Facebook Marketplace, a common space run by Facebook where users can buy and sell items from each other. Facebook Marketplace is not the same as individual business pages, but negative product reviews can still plague sellers on that part of the platform.

You can report a review on Facebook Marketplace by clicking on the three dots in the upper right corner of the review. Click “Report Review” and follow the on-screen prompts to report the reasons for the reviewer’s violation of the Facebook community standards.

Who Do You Contact at Facebook to Remove a Bad Review?

Unfortunately, there is no one to contact to report a negative review about your business.

As noted above, all reports must start by clicking on the three dots at the top right of the review and filing a report. Facebook’s administrators will review the report and decide whether to remove the bad Facebook review if it does violate their community standards.

Responding to Bad Facebook Reviews

When your business is faced with a negative review online, it can be tempting to fire back with a heated response. But often, responding to a review can do more harm than good.

Below, we provide information on how to respond appropriately, when you should refrain from responding at all, and other ways to deal with a negative review.

How Can You Respond Appropriately to Negative Facebook Reviews?

When your business receives a negative review, it is sometimes advisable to respond with a courteous comment. After all, many reviews are based on unrealistic expectations or inaccurate assumptions about your business that can be resolved with quality customer service.

While we do not always recommend responding to a bad Facebook review (see below), keep the following tips in mind when you do respond:

• Be non-confrontational. Resist the urge to be defensive; instead, acknowledge the customer’s concerns.
• Be sympathetic. Even if the complaint is unfounded, show compassion for the person who is upset. If applicable, assure them that the issue is being addressed and/or resolved.
• Be timely. Most users expect a brand to respond within a few hours, so try to send an appropriate response as soon as possible.
• Keep it concise. Stay short and sweet—and try to move the conversation offline as soon as possible. Invite the commenter to email your customer service department or send you a private message to continue the exchange.

The key to appropriate review response is to demonstrate the right balance of compassionate, courteous, and informational.

When Should You Not Respond to Negative Facebook Reviews?

In many situations, however, it is not advisable to respond to a negative review. If your local business is not in an industry that relies on a high volume of reviews (such as food, retail, travel, etc.), it may not be worth your while to respond.

In some circumstances, a bad response will only worsen the situation. Sometimes, interacting with a negative review will only draw more attention to it, since many platforms display reviews that have more comments and responses first.

And responding to a negative review also decreases the chances that Facebook will remove it for a violation of its community standards later. When platforms like Facebook evaluate a removal request and see responses, they tend to assume that the business has already dealt with the issue and no further action is needed.

How Do You Deal With Negative Comments on Facebook?

Some negative reviews on Facebook come from genuinely dissatisfied customers. However, other posters are unreasonably malicious. In those cases, it is most often the best course to spend your energy trying to block, report, and hide that review from the public eye.

Block the Poster

If you know the poster is not acting in good faith, the simplest course is to block them. To block a user, simply click the three dots next to their profile and select “block.” If a user is blocked by you, they cannot see you or your posts, and you cannot see them.

Depending on the issue at hand, you can instead choose to “Hide ALL,” which will prevent you from seeing the user’s posts without blocking them. In that case, the user can still see you, but you will not see them.

Report the Poster

You can also report the malicious user by selecting the three dots next to their profile and clicking on “Find support or report profile.”

Then, select a reason for reporting the user.

Depending on the feedback you give, you may also be asked to submit a separate report to Facebook.

Hide the Comment From the Post

If the content in question is a comment on your own post, you have the option to hide the comment from continuing to appear.

The user will not know the comment was hidden, but other Facebook users will no longer be able to see it.

Can you Delete Comments on a Facebook Business Page?

As a business owner, you also have the option to delete the comment. Of course, unlike hiding the comment, choosing to delete it means that the commenter will know it has been removed.

Facebook also contains settings that allow business owners to filter and moderate comments. Turning on these settings allow you to:

• Moderate and approve all comments,
• Select age restrictions for posters,
• Determine posters’ tagging ability,
• Set a profanity filter, and
• Select certain words to be blocked from the page.

To alter these settings, go to your business page and click “Settings” in the left column.

Then, adjust the various page settings to match your preferences.

Can You Block Someone From Leaving a Review on Facebook?

By following the steps listed above, you can block specific users from being able to interact with your business Facebook page in the future—including leaving a review. Simply click the three dots next to their profile and select “block.”

Minc Law Defamation Tip: Many business owners are tempted to call a negative review defamatory. However, there is a difference between a bad review and defamation . A negative review that was written by an actual customer describing their real, negative experience with your business is legal and not defamatory. A bad review becomes defamation if the reviewer lies about being a customer or lies about their experience. For more information about when you can sue for a negative review, see our article: Can You Sue for a Bad Review?

How to Turn Off & Delete Facebook Reviews

Unfortunately, Facebook reviews cannot be hidden or blocked the same way comments can. To take action without waiting for Facebook’s administrators, your simplest option is to turn off your page’s reviews altogether.

Where Can You Turn Off Facebook Reviews in Your Settings?

Some business owners prefer to avoid dealing with Facebook reviews at all. To turn recommendations on or off for your business page, navigate to your page and click ‘Settings’ in the left-hand menu.

Click “Templates and Tabs.’

On this page, you have the option to toggle the ‘Reviews’ tap on or off. When this option is turned off, visitors to your page will not be able to leave a review.

Why Might You Choose to Turn Off Your Facebook Reviews?

While opting to avoid allowing reviews on your business page is not right for everyone, there are a few situations in which it makes more sense to disable reviews than to deal with the potential for negative publicity.

You may decide to turn off your Facebook review if:

• You are not very active on Facebook and do not want to monitor and respond to reviews posted on that platform;
• You have so many negative reviews that it would be too much work to have them removed; or
• You have been bombarded with negative fake reviews (or one or two that are particularly harmful and problematic).

Why Do Reviews Sometimes Disappear From Facebook?

Occasionally, a review will disappear seemingly on its own accord. This disappearance may happen because the person who wrote the review removed it themselves, or the author of the review deleted their account.

In other cases, Facebook’s algorithm may have removed the review for a violation of the platform’s community standards.

We Can Help Remove Fake Facebook Reviews

Whether fake, malicious, or misleading, a negative review on Facebook can have long-lasting effects on your business and online reputation if left unchecked. It can be frustrating and time-consuming to try to remove that review on your own, however.

Don't suffer in silence.

With a team of experienced attorneys, we will fight for the closure you deserve. Take back control today.

If you are struggling to respond to an onslaught of fake reviews or find yourself stymied by the roadblocks in Facebook’s reporting process, we can help. At Minc Law, we pride ourselves on transparent, cost-effective, and permanent consumer review removals.

★★★★★ “This is a very special law firm with a truly noble mission. It emerged because people, businesses, and organizations are being viciously hurt on the internet. It’s the only firm of its kind and they are very effective.” Shahin Ruyani, July 19, 2021

To learn more about your options for dealing with fake or negative Facebook reviews, contact us for a free consultation by calling (216) 373-7706, speaking with a Chat Representative, or filling out our online contact form .

Statista. Most popular social networks worldwide as of July 2021, ranked by number of active users in millions (2021).

Zendesk. The business impact of customer service on customer lifetime value (2013).

ReviewTrackers. 2021 ReviewTrackers Online Reviews Stats and Survey (2021).

Facebook Community Standards (2021).

Facebook Help Center. How Do I Report a Fake Facebook Account? (2021).

Facebook Community Standards. Violence and Criminal Behavior (2021).

Facebook Community Standards. Safety (2021).

Facebook Community Standards. Objectionable Content (2021).

Facebook Community Standards. Integrity and Authenticity (2021).

Facebook Help Center. Policies and Reporting - Copyright (2021).

Facebook Terms of Service (2021).

Facebook Community Standards. Additional Protection of Minors (2021).

Facebook Help Center. How Do I Report a Review on a Product for Sale on Facebook Marketplace?

Facebook Help Center. Using Facebook. How Do I Report a Facebook Profile? (2021).

Facebook Help Center. Using Facebook. How Do I Turn Recommendations On or Off for My Business Page? (2021).

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Facebook Pages are Getting Hit with Spam Reviews: Here’s What You Can Do

Monitoring your online reviews is essential to upholding your brand identity online. Doing what you can to ensure the validity of those reviews is just as crucial to your brand as ensuring the validity of the content you post. Do you know what to do when a review is posted about your business that doesn’t seem relevant and may even seem like it’s spam?Recently, we’ve noticed an influx of spam Facebook reviews (called recommendations on Facebook) come in through some financial brands’ Facebook pages. In this article, we’ll look at what a spam review on Facebook can look like and the steps you can take to report it and get it taken down.

What Spam Reviews Can Look Like

Just like regular spam emails, you may receive in your inbox, spam reviews can all look different and focus on different topics. Below are some actual reviews we’ve seen come in on financial brand Facebook pages.

The review reads, “Few weeks ago i was scrolling through and reading posts in review just like you’re doing now, i had no intention of investing a penny in Bitcoin platform. i just enjoyed reading testimonies of different people making thousands of dollars in Bitcoin investment, it all seem like a play, it was just too good to be true.. Then i thought to myself, what if this is it? what if this is my only way of earning without having to work all day and night-shifts.” Main things to look for in spam reviews are grammatical errors and misspellings and irrelevant information to the business they’re reviewing.

Another example reads, “Bitcoin is valuable and no one will give you for free. Bitcoin doesn’t mine overnight although many people claim that, but it’s not possible, otherwise they wouldn’t be placing ads on Facebook for people to come mine with them so the best you can do for yourself is to invest with an accepted and financially secured bitcoin investment company that would grant you success & get your future secured. The choice is yours! Mrs Sandra billy she’s my trader if you’re interested.”

Pro Tip: Don’t reply to these reviews.

Report the Review to Facebook

When spam Facebook reviews comes through on your Facebook page, the best way (and only) way to handle it is to report the review. Facebook has a help page to show you how to report reviews here .

Here’s a breakdown of how to report a review (recommendation) on Facebook.

•  Click the ellipses (…) in the top right corner of the review.
• Select “Find Support or Report Recommendation”
• Select “Spam”

From here, you can hide posts or block the reviewer, which is optional but we recommend doing this to prevent more false reviews. The review has been reported to Facebook and from there, Facebook will review and decide if the review needs to be removed. 

Pro Tip: Alert all employees at your business about the spam review and have them all follow the above steps to report the review as well. The more reports, the more Facebook will take action on the review.

Monitoring your online reviews is important to ensure you’re providing your customers the best possible experience in addition to maintaining the health of your online reviews and your brand. Be sure you have review notifications turned on in your Social Assurance app and/or on your Facebook settings. Monitoring for spam reviews can ensure that you are in the best position to report them quickly and get them taken down.

Read more about the importance of your digital reputation here .

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Can you delete bad reviews from Facebook? Answers to common Facebook business questions

Facebook reviews are reviews that customers can leave on your Facebook business page. They can be highly valuable to your small business. Rather than star ratings or star reviews, which provide only basic information about your business, written reviews give customers the chance to go into more detail about the customer experience your company offers.

As a result, positive reviews can help to build potential customers’ trust and interest in your business, and they may encourage your followers to place their first order or stop at your store for the first time.

Likewise, negative Facebook reviews can be incredibly damaging. This is particularly true of reviews that are spam, falsified or of a personal nature and don’t actually concern your business. In this case, you may need to remove the bad reviews to protect your business.

Free Guide: 10 Tips To Get More Customers From Facebook

Can you delete bad reviews on your facebook business page.

Part of what makes Facebook reviews so valuable is the fact that business owners can’t simply delete the reviews themselves. This feature helps ensure the reviews reflect an honest assessment of a business — unless your business is targeted with spam or false reviews.

If you need to have spam or false reviews removed, you can do so by following Facebook’s review removal process.

What types of reviews can be removed from my Facebook business page?

Facebook will remove spam and fake reviews if you flag them. Reviews that go against Facebook’s Community Standards , including hate speech, will also be removed. Facebook generally will not remove honest reviews of your business left by an actual customer.

What is the difference between deleting and blocking someone on Facebook?

If someone who has liked your Facebook business page is leaving false or problematic reviews, you may want to prevent them from continuing to do so. You might choose to delete or block the person from your Facebook page.

If you delete or remove someone who has liked your page, they will no longer see your page updates. However, they can simply choose to like your page again.

A better option may be to block the user from your business page. You can accomplish this through the Admin Panel of your page. Click on the “New Likes” section, then click “See All.” You will need to click the “X” next to the name of the person you wish to block, then choose the “Ban permanently” option to block the user.

A user who has been blocked from your page can no longer comment on, message or like the page. This can be an effective way to prevent the problematic user from leaving false business reviews.

What is the best way to remove bad reviews on Facebook?

There are several ways to remove bad reviews on Facebook.

Ask Facebook to remove the reviews

If you’re dealing with spam or fake Facebook reviews, you can ask Facebook to remove them. You need to log into your Facebook account and navigate to your business profile page.

You can only report reviews with at least one comment, so before you report the review, you need to leave a comment. Even if the review is fake, comment as if you were talking to a real customer. This comment will demonstrate that you take customers’ concerns seriously, which is important if any of your page followers read the review before it is removed.

Next, look to the top right of the post, then click on the downward-pointing arrow. Click “Report Post” and provide details about why you believe the review should be removed.

Facebook manually evaluates each report, so once you’ve reported the review, you may need to wait a while. If Facebook determines the review goes against community standards, it will be removed.

Hide all of your Facebook reviews

You can also choose to hide all of your Facebook reviews, which will hide both negative and positive reviews. The reviews won’t be permanently deleted so you can restore them at a future date.

To hide your Facebook reviews, log into your Facebook profile and navigate to your business page. Click on the “Settings” button in the top right corner of the page. Choose “Templates and Tabs” on the left-hand corner menu. Choose the “Reviews” tab and click on “Settings.” There is a slider button next to the “Show Reviews” option. Click on the slider to disable your reviews, and then click “Save.” You can repeat the process when you want to show reviews again.

How to deal with negative reviews on your Facebook page

When you use Facebook for business marketing, even negative reviews can offer a valuable marketing opportunity. By taking the time to acknowledge the customer feedback, show concern for the customer’s experience and take steps to correct the situation, you demonstrate empathy for the customer and a desire to fix issues.

Responding to reviews is critical to online reputation management, showing that you truly value your customers. This is also true of other online reviews, including Yelp and Google reviews.

By strategically responding to negative feedback, you can build potential customer trust in your business. You’ve demonstrated that you work to fix problems, and potential customers can expect to receive that same type of response if they ever have an issue with your business.

Examples of responses to negative Facebook reviews

A good response to a bad Facebook review will acknowledge a customer’s negative experience. The business owner should admit that the incident was unfair or inappropriate and apologize.

Then, the owner should offer to make it up to the customer, whether with a product replacement, a gift card, a discount or another gesture that’s appropriate for the issue. It’s critical to offer a solution and ensure that the customer feels their concerns are heard.

Rely on Broadly for Facebook review management

Customer reviews are critical for attracting new customers. Broadly can help you manage your reviews , promptly respond to customer feedback and leverage your organic Facebook reviews so your business gets maximum value from them.

Watch your online reputation transform with Broadly

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How to Remove Negative Reviews Online and Protect Your Online Reputation In the digital age, maintaining a positive online reputation is crucial for businesses, as customer reviews on the internet heavily influence brand perception and purchasing decisions. This article delves into effective strategies for managing both legitimate and fake online reviews, offering insights into crisis management and proactive approaches to uphold and enhance your brand's reputation in the virtual world.

By Scott Bartnick • Apr 22, 2024

Key Takeaways

How online reviews affect your brand reputation, how to remove fake online reviews to build a good reputation, how to address legitimate negative online reviews to manage your reputation, how to proactively approach online reputation management.

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

One of the biggest challenges businesses face is protecting their online reputation . Now that virtually everyone can access the internet from the convenience of their mobile device, many consumers use online reviews to share their experiences or inform their purchasing decisions. As such, many businesses are looking for new methods of online reputation management to build a positive online reputation.

A strategic narrative is one of the most important tools a brand needs to survive challenges to its online reputation. A strategic narrative defines the brand's identity, values and purpose, which should drive every interaction the brand has with its customers. If a business's online presence and interactions with its customers don't align with this narrative, it could harm the company's online reputation.

Reviews are extremely powerful to a brand's online image in both directions. Positive reviews create word-of-mouth recommendations that could attract new customers . On the other hand, bad online reviews can scare customers away — and even those who aren't scared away could view your brand negatively.

However, while negative reviews are just as critical as positive content to a business, illegitimate negative reviews can be used in an attempt to destroy a business's positive reputation . These fake reviews, whether created by bots or a party breaking the review platform's terms of service (for instance, previous employees or a competitor), can have a disproportionately negative impact on the brand's reputation if left unchecked.

Related: Your Online Reputation Is Powerful — Use These Methods to Enhance and Protect It.

Thankfully, most online review sites realize the unfair negative consequences of these fake reviews and allow businesses to flag and remove illegitimate reviews. As a business owner, platforms like Google and Trustpilot let you log in to your admin panel and report the review as breaking the platform's terms of service.

Generally speaking, these platforms all work similarly and are good about removing illegitimate reviews. For Google, it may take a few reports as different moderators may come to different conclusions about the legitimacy of the review. Trustpilot has premium support — sometimes even going so far as to track the IP address associated with the review to see if it is the registered address of a competitor. Employee review services like Glassdoor are an exception, where it can be much harder to get reviews removed because of the nature of these sites.

While these steps are practical for illegitimate review management, they are not advisable for legitimate reviews. Even if you manage to get a legitimate review removed from a site successfully, that will leave the customer even more angry and likely to take action against your reputation, as you will not be seen as trustworthy. Instead, when facing legitimate negative reviews, respond to them in an ethical and well-thought-out way.

Related: Don't Fall Victim to a Digital Hitman — Here Are 6 Ways to Protect Your Online Reputation From Fake Reviews

When dealing with legitimate negative reviews, all reputation management firms will tell you the same thing: having a crisis management strategy in place is essential. Although online content might not seem like a major crisis, it can balloon out of control if you don't know how to handle it. If you don't respond appropriately, you could escalate and worsen the situation, ruining your online brand image.

Remember, with negative reviews, you're dealing with someone who is already unhappy with your company, so it is crucial to respond quickly to remedy the situation. Ideally, you can help the customer reach a resolution that encourages them to delete or at least adjust their review upwards. The first step in dealing with a legitimate negative review is to identify the root cause of the issue. If the reviewer left their name or contact info on their profile or in their review, find their order or account with you and identify what went wrong.

Sometimes, the reviews you receive will be anonymous, in this case, your best option is to reply with a point of contact to reach out to so that they can provide more details. It's a good idea to apologize that they feel negatively but not admit fault — you are still unsure of the details.

Once you have identified the party who left the negative review, try to remedy the solution. Generally, this means giving them a chance to improve their experience. For service-based companies, an ideal resolution might be a free month of your service or reassigning the customer to a different team, depending on the issue they experienced. For restaurants, the best course of action is probably inviting them back to have another meal on the house.

The best way to deal with negative reviews is to prevent them proactively. Of course, you won't be able to leave every single customer satisfied, but not every unhappy customer will leave a bad review. Strategies like transparent communication and authenticity across platforms can help prevent unhappy customers from becoming so disgruntled that they write negative reviews.

Furthermore, you should conduct online reputation monitoring for any brand mentions. There are specialized software business leaders can use to monitor mentions of their company's name online. However, the "DIY" method of social listening — by using search engines and setting Google or social media alerts with the name as the keyword to flag relevant search results — is also an effective way of being notified when a customer has said something about the business. These alerts can allow you to respond to negative comments about your company in a timely manner.

Although it's not always possible to remove negative online reviews, there are other tried and true methods for repairing and restoring your business's online reputation through effective crisis management. By actively engaging with your audience, implementing constructive feedback, and showcasing your commitment to customer satisfaction, you can gradually rebuild trust and improve your digital footprint. Remember, every challenge is an opportunity to demonstrate your dedication to excellence and to turn a negative situation into a positive outcome for your brand.

Related: 9 Steps for Building a Reputation Management Plan That Wins Customers and Gives You an Edge

Entrepreneur Leadership Network® Contributor

COO at Otter PR

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How to Turn Off Meta AI: Step-by-Step

Meta AI has raised several privacy and user experience concerns since its integration into social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram. Users are now looking for ways to manage or disable these features to have more control over their online activities and maintain privacy. While AI can streamline processes and personalize content, the balancing act between convenience and user autonomy is delicate. This has led to an increasing number of users exploring options to disable AI features on their social media accounts.

Turning off Meta AI requires an understanding of the available tools and settings across different platforms. Clear instructions can guide users through the process, ensuring they can confidently adjust their settings to suit their preferences. Getting to grips with these options can empower users to dictate the role AI plays in their social media experience.

Taming Meta AI in Your Online Searches

Meta AI, the new artificial intelligence assistant from Meta (formerly Facebook), has been popping up in searches across Instagram, Facebook, and other Meta platforms. While it can be helpful, some users may find its presence a bit intrusive. Unfortunately, you cannot fully disable Meta AI, but here’s how to minimize its influence on your searches:

On Facebook and Instagram

• Tap the Meta AI prompt: In the search bar, tap the Meta AI prompt that appears.
• Block and Report: Tap on the Meta AI profile and select the options to both “Block” and “Report” it.
• Reopen the app: Close the app entirely and reopen it. This should temporarily reduce the frequency of Meta AI prompts.

Additional Notes

• Temporary Solution: Since there’s no way to permanently turn off Meta AI, these steps may need to be repeated periodically.
• WhatsApp: In WhatsApp settings, you can disable the Meta AI button under the “Chats” tab.

Understanding Meta AI Limitations

Here’s why turning off Meta AI fully isn’t possible:

While full control over the assistant isn’t available, minimizing its appearance with the steps above can improve your search experience on Meta apps.

Key Takeaways

• User control over privacy drives interest in disabling Meta AI.
• Accessibility is assured with clear step-by-step guidelines.
• Empowered users can fine-tune their social media experience.

Understanding Meta AI and Privacy Concerns

Recognizing the integration of AI in Meta’s platforms and the ensuing privacy concerns is vital for users.

Overview of Meta and AI Integration

Meta, the company behind Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, uses AI to personalize user experience. This AI system learns from data to show content that might interest the user. Privacy is a key concern as AI handles sensitive personal information.

Privacy Laws Impacting AI

Privacy laws in places like the UK and Canada govern how companies like Meta use data. These laws protect personal information and ensure users have control over their privacy. They require companies to be open about their use of AI with people’s data.

Data Subject Rights and AI

Users have rights that let them control their personal data. They can ask to see the data or to stop Meta from using their data to train AI. Data privacy laws support these rights, allowing users to opt out of certain uses of their information.

Steps to Disable Meta AI Features

In a digital age where AI controls much of our online experience, taking charge of our privacy and user preferences is essential. Here’s how to turn off AI-driven features across the Meta family of apps.

Disabling AI Features on Facebook and Instagram

On Facebook, head to the menu by tapping the three horizontal lines . Once there, visit your settings and privacy section. Look for the AI control options and turn off any features or suggestions powered by AI. Instagram works similarly. Go to your profile and select the settings. From here, find the AI features and toggle them off to regain control over what you see.

Managing AI Preferences on WhatsApp

WhatsApp’s settings give you the power over AI interactions. Open the app and tap on the three dots to access the settings. Navigate to the AI preferences and choose to disable AI. This action limits the AI’s influence on your messaging experience and any generative AI models in your threads.

Opting Out of Generative AI Models

Generative AI models use language and personal data to learn and suggest new content . To opt-out of these models, explore the settings in your social media apps. Look for sections about AI or generative models. Choose to remove or disable these to stop the AI from using your personal information for learning or to suggest content.

Remember to regularly review app permissions and third-party integrations for any updates to your privacy settings.

Frequently Asked Questions

Turning off Meta AI involves simple steps across various devices and platforms. Each section guides you through the process.

How can I deactivate the Meta AI functionality on my iPhone?

Go to your iPhone’s Settings and find the Facebook or Instagram app settings. Disable any options related to AI or personalized suggestions.

What are the steps to disable the Meta AI chatbot feature?

Access the settings in your Facebook Messenger app . Look for a section on automated messages or AI assistance and switch off these features.

How can I opt out of Meta AI services on WhatsApp?

WhatsApp does not offer specific Meta AI settings. Any AI features are integral to the app and currently cannot be turned off.

What procedure should be followed to turn off Meta AI on Reddit?

Reddit may use AI for content recommendations. To disable, adjust your personalization settings in your account preferences.

How do I remove Meta AI from the search bar on Facebook?

Locate your Facebook profile settings and adjust the settings for search bar suggestions. You can turn off search predictions which are AI-driven.

Is there a way to disable Meta AI features on Instagram?

In the Instagram app, navigate to your account settings. Find the options for personalization and data sharing, then turn off any AI-based features.

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‘Rock the Block’ Season 5 Has Picked a Winner—and It’s Quite a Surprise

After six long weeks of renovations, the finale of “ Rock the Block ” Season 5 has finally arrived.

In the episode “Final Redemption,” the four teams of HGTV stars work to finish their Treasure Island, FL, homes’ final spaces: loft areas and laundry rooms.

Last week,  Sarah and  Bryan Baeumler of “Renovation Island” won the “surprise room” challenge with their crafts room, giving them a total of three wins this season. Just behind the couple, Page Turner   and  Mitch Glew of “Fix My Flip” have won two challenges, while Keith Bynum  and  Evan Thomas  of “Bargain Block” and  Lyndsay Lamb  and  Leslie Davis of “Unsellable Houses” each have just one victory under their belt.

But host Ty Pennington reminds the teams that the number of challenges won doesn’t equal an overall victory.

“It’s all about the hard numbers on the appraisal,” he tells the competitors.

This week’s guest judge Jonathan Scott might get to share his opinion on the projects, but it’s the appraisal that will decide the winner of this season.

Read on to find out which team wins the whole competition, along with plenty of tips for making every inch of your house feel special.

Storage and workspace always add value

In each of the homes, the loft is a landing space right outside the main bedroom. It’s not very large, but it is full of possibilities.

Bynum and Thomas decide the best use of their loft would be to create built-in storage with a workspace.

“People love having extra storage, they just love it, I love it,” Bynum says.

Bynum adds that building extra storage is important because when they were on “Rock the Block” in Season 3, they were critiqued by then-guest judge Turner for their unimpressive closet.

“One of our biggest misses last time was focusing so much on the design of our gorgeous bathroom, that the closet storage took a backseat,” he explains.

Thomas and Bynum use white oak to build the feature, matching it to the main bathroom and tying the spaces together. When Scott tours their house, he’s impressed by the extra storage as well as the white oak.

“The tone of the wood is bang on,” he says. It “complements the floors nicely.”

Don’t forget about the walls in your workspace

Like Bynum and Thomas, Lamb and Davis decide to build in storage and a workspace in their loft. However, the twins take their design to the next level by adding statement wallpaper.

“We’re going with a grass-cloth wallpaper that both has a fun design and a nice texture to it to elevate this loft area,” Lamb says.

“Painting would be faster and cheaper, but we definitely wanted to go with a statement in this area,” Davis adds.

When Scott sees this space, he’s impressed by the work area, storage, and especially the wallpaper.

When comparing the twins’ space with Thomas and Bynum’s loft, he admits, “I think Lindsay and Leslie did it better.”

A dog wash can add big value

Davis and Lamb also finish the attached laundry room, giving their home a grand total of three washers and dryers.

“Some people may consider it risky to add a third place to do laundry,” Lamb says. “However, we feel like for the size of this home, you need washers and dryers to keep up with the laundry.”

They set this space apart by adding a dog wash station and covering it in lime, turquoise, and white tiles.

The feature is fun and playful. However, Scott isn’t sure about the function of this dog wash.

“The one thing that’s kind of funny though is, if you’re washing your dog, are you running them through the entire house muddy?” he asks. “Usually, you have the dog wash at the entry, like the mudroom coming in, so that you don’t have to deal with that.”

Book storage can be beautiful and quirky

Rather than create a workspace in their loft, Turner and Glew decide to create a book nook built into a custom bookshelf.

“We already have a desk in our downstairs flex room, so we don’t need to put in a built-in desk up here,” Turner explains. “We really want to do something that’s a beautiful feature and not basic.”

The book nook, which features a big circle for lounging inside and fun wallpaper to make the space pop, is both lovely and unique, so when Turner and Glew are finished with the space, they’re happy with their work.

“It’s custom, it’s beautiful, it’s functional,” Turner says. “As they say on the block, it checks all the boxes.”

However, Scott says that an office may have added more value.

“Architecturally, I think it’s beautiful,” he says. “However, it doesn’t add the function of an office like the other ones did. They missed that opportunity.”

Smart design in the laundry room will make washing easier

In their laundry room, Sarah and Bryan take care to make the space as functional as possible.   One way they do this is by adding an open laundry container, right next to the washer and dryer, for easy clothing disposal.

“Boom! They don’t even have to open the cupboard,” Sarah says of the laundry slot.

“The buyer we picture has kids, and like us, with four kids, they throw laundry everywhere,” Bryan explains. “So having something like this that’s organized will just make life a lot easier.”

When Scott tours the space, he points out another convenience: the washer and dryer height.

“I like that they elevated the washer-dryer up to this height, so it’s easier to get your stuff in,” he says. However, he notes that this space isn’t perfect, suggesting that the couple could have designed more surfaces for folding clothes.

Who won Season 5 of ‘Rock the Block’?

After all four homes are appraised, Scott and Pennington meet with the four teams to announce the winners. But first, they go over the numbers.

Each home started with a $1.7 million valuation, and after spending $250,000 on the renovation plus $25,000 for the pools, Scott and Pennington say that each of the homes had a new valuation of over $2.28 million.

“Every single home was a home run,” Scott says.

But which team came out on top? Lamb and Davis are declared the winners with a home valuation of $2.3 million.

Given they were behind in the judging, this comes as surprising news to many, including Davis, who admits she is “shocked.”

“Being on the block is the hardest thing I’ve ever done in my career, it feels good to get a victory,” she says.

The sisters celebrate by calling their mom, and to close out the show, all the teams head to the winning home to party!

Jillian Pretzel is a Southern California writer who covers lifestyle, relationships, home, and money management.

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See the 10 types of new US Navy warships plagued by shipbuilding delays

• The US Navy's highly-anticipated shipbuilding projects are years behind schedule, a review found.
• The Navy attributed the delays to pandemic-related supply chain issues.
• The delayed warships include submarines, guided missile destroyers, and a new aircraft carrier.

All of the US Navy's highly anticipated shipbuilding projects face yearslong delays, the service said earlier this month.

The delayed ships include a new fleet of Virginia-class attack submarines, guided-missile destroyers, and a new Gerald R. Ford-class aircraft carrier .

The announcement came after a 45-day review ordered by Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro in January. The review identified the "shortfalls" that caused the delays, including labor shortages and supply chain issues.

Speaking at the Navy League's Sea Air Space conference on April 9, Del Toro said the review found that "too many of our industry partners are behind schedule and over budget on our highest priority programs."

Del Toro also said the Navy's Office of Strategic Assessment will perform a "deep dive" to find solutions to address the delays, including advanced material procurement and multi-ship buys.

"I think there's a lot of promise about being able to reduce those timelines into the future," he said.

The major delays come amid concerns that China is outpacing American shipbuilding and increasing its naval capabilities. The US Department of Defense said China now has "the largest navy in the world with a battle force of over 370 platforms," and it is only expected to grow — with up to 435 ships by the end of the decade.

But China isn't the only shipbuilding superpower in the Indo-Pacific. The Navy secretary said he and his team were "floored" by US ally South Korea's shipbuilding capabilities .

In a February statement , the Navy recognized Korean and Japanese shipbuilding as an asset to the US as "China continues to aggressively pursue worldwide shipbuilding dominance."

A new Ford-class aircraft carrier

Last month, the Navy announced that the future aircraft carrier Enterprise (CVN 80), the third Gerald R. Ford-class carrier, is set to deliver a year and a half behind schedule.

Contracted to Huntington Ingalls Industries' Newport News Shipbuilding — the US's only aircraft carrier builder — the Enterprise was initially scheduled to deliver by March 2028. However, the Navy's shipbuilding review found that it will now deliver in September 2029 from the earliest to May 2030 at the latest.

In August 2022, Olympians Simone Biles and Katie Ledecky commemorated the keel-laying of the Enterprise in a ceremony in Virginia, chalking their initials on the ship's steel plates.

Production delays have plagued all of the Ford-class carriers. The second-in-class John F. Kennedy was set to deliver in June 2024 but was delayed a year so the Navy could perform more work to prepare it for deployment in the Indo-Pacific.

The first-in-class USS Gerald R. Ford also faced its fair share of delays, deploying in May 2023 — a few months before the 10-year anniversary of its 2013 launch. Then-Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Michael Gilday said it was the supercarrier's new, untested technologies that contributed to cost overruns and its yearslong delay.

"We had 23 new technologies on that ship, which quite frankly increased the risk … of delivery on time and cost right from the get-go," Gilday said during Navy League's symposium in 2021.

"We really shouldn't introduce more than maybe one or two new technologies on any complex platform like that in order to make sure that we keep risk at a manageable level," Gilday continued.

Guided-missile frigates

The first-in-class PCU Constellation , a guided-missile frigate, has been under construction since August 2022.

It was the first time a new frigate had been built since the 1980s, when USS Ingraham, the last Oliver Hazard Perry-class frigate, was built.

Italian shipbuilding company Fincantieri Marinette Marine was awarded the contract for the first-in-class warship in 2020, as well as sister ships, Chesapeake and Congress. The company also has contract options for seven additional ships.

The next-generation small surface combatant is designed for multi-mission capabilities, including air, surface, and underwater warfare. The versatile frigate features an advanced 3D air surveillance radar, sonar, a Mk 41 vertical launch system, and an upgraded version of the Aegis Combat System, which operates aboard Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyers.

But the Constellation also faces significant delays, with its delivery pushed back by three years from its original 2026 date, according to the Navy's shipbuilding review. Last Friday, the Navy held a keel-laying ceremony for the Constellation at the Wisconsin shipyard.

"I'm not here to put blame on mistakes that were made in the past either by Fincantieri or the Navy," Del Toro said. "I want to move this forward more aggressively to a better place. And so we're going to work as a team, with industry, with the government, to get us there quicker. And that's what we're doing."

Ballistic missile submarines

With the US Navy's submarine fleet carrying about 70% of the deployed US nuclear arsenal , the service's highest priority shipbuilding program is a new fleet of "boomers" to carry them.

In June 2022, the Navy laid the keel for the future District of Columbia , the lead ship of the upcoming class of nuclear-powered ballistic missile subs that will replace the 14 existing Ohio-class submarines.

The Columbia-class submarines will be the largest submarines ever built by the US, measuring 560 feet long and 43 feet wide. The Columbia is designed to carry Mk 48 Advanced Capability torpedoes and 16 Trident II D5 nuclear ballistic missiles. It will also feature "superior acoustic performance and state-of-the-art sensors to make it the most capable and quiet submarine ever built," according to the Navy .

Construction on the first-in-class submarine began in 2021, designed in collaboration between General Dynamics' Electric Boat and HII's Newport News. The stern of the boat was delivered to a facility in Rhode Island in January 2024.

The Navy plans to build 12 Columbia-class boats in a $136 billion contract, with the District of Columbia and future Wisconsin being the only two ordered so far.

However, the Navy's review found that the lead ship's delivery could be pushed back at least 12 to 16 months. The District of Columbia was scheduled to deliver in October 2027, the same year the first Ohio-class submarine, USS Henry M. Jackson, is set to decommission. The delays, brought on by ballooning costs, workforce shortages, and late supply deliveries , could prompt the Navy to keep its aging Ohio-class submarines a while longer.

"A delay of that length would make it more likely for the Navy to implement its backup plan to extend the service lives of up to five Ohio-class by a little bit," Ronald O'Rourke, a naval analyst for the Congressional Research Service, told Bloomberg . "There would be some cost for doing those service life extensions."

Virginia Block IV submarines

Pandemic-related supply chain issues and workforce shortages also impacted the upcoming Block IV Virginia-class fast-attack submarines , putting the program three years behind schedule.

These attack submarines are contracted to Electric Boat and Newport News, the same shipbuilders and suppliers as the higher-priority Columbia-class boats.

Virginia Block IV submarines differ from Block III in that the design is focused on reducing procurement costs and maintenance periods through smaller-scale design changes. Block IV boats will still have the same armament as Block III, carrying Mk 48 torpedos and Tomahawk cruise missiles.

Four of the 10 submarines in Block IV are in service: USS Vermont, Oregon, Montana, and Hyman G. Rickover. Three Block IV vessels have yet to be commissioned — PCUs New Jersey, Iowa, and Massachusetts — and three are still under construction — PCUs Idaho, Arkansas, and Utah.

Virginia Block V submarines

Ten Virginia-class Block V attack submarines are also under construction in a $24.1 billion contract awarded to Electric Boat and Newport News in December 2019, the Navy's largest-ever shipbuilding contract.

According to a report from the Congressional Research Service , the design of Block V boats differs from that of Block IV boats by about 20%, including acoustic superiority, additional payload tubes, and a high-resolution photonic mast .

The Block V submarine is designed to be 461 feet and displace 10,200 tons, making it the second-largest US submarine behind the Ohio class.

The additional length comes from the Virginia Payload Module , an 84-foot-long extension that expands the sub's missile capacity. With the VPM, Block V boats increase the number of Tomahawk missiles they can carry from 12 to 40. The VPM can also be used to store and deploy additional payloads, such as missiles, seabed sensors, or sea drones.

While the Virginia-class boats are not as well-armed as the Seawolf-class fast-attack submarines, the Block V boats will be equipped with a larger launcher that can deploy advanced hypersonic missile technology as it becomes available, including a new version of the anti-ship Maritime Strike Tomahawk.

Three boats have been laid down so far, PCUs Oklahoma, Arizona, and Tang, with another seven ordered that have yet to begin construction.

However, the Block V submarines have faced problems since they were ordered in 2019, with insufficient staffing and workforce efficiency potentially pushing back their projected delivery by an average of two years.

Ocean surveillance ships

In response to China and Russia continuing to modernize their naval capabilities , including submarine activity, the US Navy is looking to procure a new fleet of ocean surveillance ships, designated TAGOS-25.

The unarmed naval surveillance vessels are designed to operate surveillance patrols for submarines and are maintained by civilian contractors for the Military Sealift Command.

In 2022, the Navy initially procured the first vessel of the planned TAGOS-25 class at a cost of $434.4 million from Alabama-based shipbuilder Austal USA.

But two years later, the cost skyrocketed to $789.6 million in the Navy's 2024 budget submission — an 81.8% increase — due to factors like "direct material inflation, supply chain challenges, and increased nonrecurring engineering costs," according to the Congressional Research Service .

As a result, the Navy proposed to defer the procurement of a second TAGOS-25-class ship from 2025 to 2026 to cover the additional costs. Nonetheless, Austal USA was also awarded a contract to design and construct seven more TAGOS-25-class vessels.

The future TAGOS-25 ships will succeed four Victorious-class vessels and USNS Impeccable, which entered service more than two decades ago.

The ships will be about 359 feet long and feature a catamaran-like Small Waterplane Area Twin Hull (SWATH) design. Powered by three diesel generators and a gas turbine, the vessel will travel at speeds of up to 22 knots with a range of 960 miles, making it the largest and fastest TAGOS ship operated by the US Navy.

Guided-missile destroyers

The Arleigh Burke-class destroyer program is one of the Navy's longest-running shipbuilding programs. Since the first-in-class USS Arleigh Burke was commissioned on July 4, 1991, more than 70 destroyers have been added to the Navy's fleet, with dozens more still on deck for delivery.

The Navy is modernizing its existing warship fleet with an updated Flight III variant of the Aegis destroyers . The Flight III design includes an upgraded Aegis Weapons System and a new SPY-6 radar, enhancing its air defense operations.

The Flight III contract was awarded to General Dynamics/Bath Iron Works and Huntington Ingalls Industries/Ingalls Shipbuilding, costing about $2.5 billion per vessel. While the program schedule is still stable despite late delivery dates, the limited capacity of the shipbuilding industry reduced the procurement rate of DDG-51s a year despite Congress pushing for more.

"I'm not hating on DDGs — my only point was that last year Congress added a third, and the reason we didn't budget for three is, again, we don't see the yards being able to produce three a year," Mike McCord, the Pentagon's top budget officer, told USNI News at a 2023 conference. "We don't see them being able to produce two a year. And that's just data. It's not what we wish to be true."

"Everybody's struggling with skilled labor. Everybody's struggling with supply chain," McCord added. "So it's not getting better very fast from the data that I've seen — whether with submarines or DDGs. So two a year seems to be a reasonable place."

Helicopter-carrying assault ships

Built by Huntington Ingalls Industries/Ingalls Shipbuilding, the Navy is currently procuring large-deck amphibious helicopter-carrying assault ships , designated LHA. These "big deck" ships carry Marine aviators and landing craft.

The Navy's 2024 budget submission estimates the procurement cost for the fourth America-class ship, PCU Fallujah, at $3.8 billion, which has been incrementally funded by Congress over the last few years.

The Fallujah will feature a similar design to USS America , but the new vessel will have a larger deck configuration to accommodate F-35B Joint Strike Fighter and MV-22 Osprey aircraft , as well as a well deck that floods to launch landing craft.

The Fallujah's predecessor, PCU Bougainville, was delayed by over a year due to engine defects and staff shortages, now expected to be delivered in 2025. The Navy also plans to buy the next America-class ship, LHA-10, nearly a decade after the Fallujah will be potentially procured, which could lead to cost increases and impacts on the shipbuilding industrial base.

"Between LHA-9 and LHA-10, there's an 11-year gap, depending on when you decide it was appropriated," Lt. Gen. Karsten Heckl, deputy commandant of the Marine Corps, said in a 2022 congressional hearing . "We're returning to well decks with the flight deck; it's a very capable platform, very important to what we're doing, very important to the nation's crisis response force."

Amphibious transport dock ships

Designed and constructed by Ingalls Shipbuilding, the forthcoming variant of San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock ships was planned to replace the Navy's existing class of dock landing ships (LSDs), which were set for early retirement after the Defense Department found them to be in "poor material condition."

The three Flight II San Antonio-class vessels, the first of which is the future Harrisburg, will feature an advanced air surveillance radar and a new steel mast. Overall, they will equal the capabilities of the Flight I ship with lower production costs.

Last year, the Navy halted plans to buy any more future San Antonio-class ships to reassess their worth compared to the Flight I design, especially amid growing costs and delays in the shipyard.

The pause on shipbuilding, in conjunction with the early retirement of the LSDs, could reduce the amphibious fleet to below 31 ships, potentially violating the legally required minimum in the 2023 National Defense Authorization Act.

Fleet replenishment oil tankers

Shipyard delays and ballooning costs aren't just impacting the Navy's warships and submarines but also its newest class of replenishment oil tankers.

Since the first-in-class John Lewis-class oiler was procured in 2016, the Navy plans to buy a total of 20 ships in a contract with General Dynamics National Steel and Shipbuilding (NASSCO). The ships are expected to cost about $650 million each.

While transporting fuel for ships and aircraft during replenishments-at-sea is one of the vessel's primary missions, it can also supply dry cargo, fresh water, and ammunition at sea. The tanker can also be armed with a close-in weapon system or anti-ship missile defense system to detect and engage cruise missiles. It is also fitted with a defense system to counter torpedo attacks and fast-attack craft.

The lead ship, PCU John Lewis, was originally scheduled to deliver in August 2020, but it was ultimately delivered almost two years later in July 2022, also pushing back subsequent ship deliveries by 12 to 15 months.

According to a report from the Congressional Research Service, several factors contributed to the Lewis' delay, including late delivery of materials, a need to rework parts of the ship, and the shipbuilder's dry dock flooding in 2018.

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Biden administration moves to block Ambler Road and announces sweeping restrictions on NPR-A drilling

Fish Creek winds through the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska, managed by the Bureau of Land Management on Alaska's North Slope. (David W. Houseknecht/United States Geological Survey via AP)

The Biden administration on Friday moved to block a proposed 200-mile road to valuable mineral deposits in Northwest Alaska, and also said it would increase protections to halt oil and gas development in much of the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska.

President Joe Biden said in a statement that Alaska’s “natural wonders” support subsistence hunting and fishing for Alaska Native communities and should be protected.

“I am proud that my administration is taking action to conserve more than 13 million acres in the Western Arctic and to honor the culture, history, and enduring wisdom of Alaska Natives who have lived on and stewarded these lands since time immemorial,” he said.

The Interior Department said in a statement that its actions balance development with preservation.

The announcement drew sharp protests from Alaska’s congressional delegation, industry trade groups and some North Slope leaders who said it could undercut economic development in the state for decades to come. They said it was a political move designed to bolster support from young voters upset with Biden’s decision to approve ConocoPhillips’ massive Willow oil project in Alaska last year.

It drew widespread praise from conservation and tribal groups who said it will protect millions of acres from drilling and mining, and help reduce future greenhouse gas emissions. They said it will help support Alaska Native subsistence hunters and safeguard wildlife that face growing risks from climate change, such as polar bears, fish, caribou and migratory birds.

Both actions are a reversal of steps taken under Donald Trump’s administration to open up land in the NPR-A for oil and gas development and permitting the Ambler Road right of way.

Interior issued a final environmental review that recommends preventing construction of the road to the Ambler Mining District in Northwest Alaska by denying a right-of-way access permit. The Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority, a state economic development agency, had applied for the permit to support potential future mines. A final decision from the Biden administration on the proposed permit is expected later this year.

And in the 23-million-acre petroleum reserve on Alaska’s North Slope, the finalized rule will “ensure maximum protection” for much of the area, Interior said. The reserve is the site of major new oil discoveries on Alaska’s North Slope, including Willow.

The regulations in the reserve have not been updated in more than 40 years, Interior said. Since then, Arctic climate conditions have changed dramatically, affecting the environment and Alaska Native communities.

The rule will limit future oil and gas leasing on 13 million acres in the reserve encompassed by five “special areas” that provide valuable wildlife habitat, such as the Teshekpuk Lake region, an important refuge for migratory waterfowl.

It bans new leasing on 10.6 million acres, following the limits in the management plan for the reserve created in 2022.

Interior also will start soliciting public comment in the coming weeks on whether to consider expanding protections for special areas in the petroleum reserve, including by making them larger or creating new ones, the agency said.

Interior Secretary Deb Haaland said the Biden administration has evenhandedly supported conservation and development. But she said some places are too special to develop.

“There is no question, using the best available science and incorporating Indigenous knowledge practiced over millennia, that these decisions” will protect resources and safeguard Indigenous ways of life, she said.

Alaska delegation reacts

The Biden administration’s plans for the two actions leaked to some news organizations early this week, leading to early reactions from Alaska political leaders and groups on all sides of the issue.

Alaska Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski in an interview Thursday said the actions are a “kick in the gut for Alaska.”

The president and his team “are trying to find a way to prove their environmental cred to younger voters who are not seemingly impressed,” she said.

“In the meantime, it’s doing extraordinary damage to Alaska, to our economy, but more importantly, to national security,” she said. “Whether it’s minerals, or whether it is oil ... they’re taking it all off the table for short-term political gain.”

Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan told reporters on Thursday that the Biden administration was sending a message to foreign adversaries such as China that America won’t use its resources to strengthen itself.

In a statement on social media Friday, Democratic Rep. Mary Peltola called Biden’s action on Ambler Road “premature” and said the administration’s NPR-A decision “is a huge step back for Alaska, failing to strike a balance between the need for gap oil and natural gas and legitimate environmental concerns, and steamrolling the voices of many Alaska Natives in the decision-making process.”

Gov. Mike Dunleavy in a statement called the actions anti-Alaska.

“Biden’s latest fiat to lock up half the reserve, without congressional approval, jeopardizes America’s energy security and ignores the fact Alaska and other oil producing states are now safely producing millions of barrels of crude oil per day,” he said.

Katie Capozzi, president of the Alaska Chamber, said the consequences will be severe and far-reaching.

Core samples, some of which are decades old, are stored in weathered wooden boxes at Bornite, a mineral deposit and exploration camp in the Ambler Mining District, on July 24, 2021. The area has been explored for its mineral potential since the 1950s. (Loren Holmes / ADN)

“They’re killing investment for decades to come by these types of decisions,” Capozzi said of the Biden administration. “So this isn’t a one-off or two-off. There are companies from around the world and the Lower 48 that are looking to invest and they keep showing them over and over again that it’s actually a really dangerous and risky place to invest.”

Limits in the petroleum reserve

The Indiana-sized petroleum reserve, west of Prudhoe Bay, has been the site of major new discoveries, such as Willow that’s expected to produce around 600 million barrels of oil, valued at about $50 billion at today’s oil prices.

Interior says the rule will not alter existing leases or impact current development. But the rule says that “future development of an existing lease may be subject to additional terms and conditions” to mitigate impacts on oil and gas activity.

The rule points out that the Willow development plan was approved with many stipulations and operating requirements to limit its environmental impacts. Those restrictions included shrinking the number of drill sites to three from five.

Bill Armstrong, the geologist whose discovery of the Pikka field near the reserve sparked new interest from oil companies, said his leases will likely be impacted by the rule. Armstrong Oil and Gas owns more than 1 million acres of leases in the reserve.

Armstrong said in a text on Friday he was still poring through the details of the rule. But assuming it follows previous aspects of the proposal, it would eliminate investment in the reserve by raising uncertainty about whether a large project will be approved.

“So it will most definitely impact our leases and our plans,” he said. “Putting in major restrictions and potential unknowns is a way of making sure nobody invests.”

There are major fields yet to be discovered in the reserve, and they will have no value to anyone if they lie untapped, he said.

“It is a sad day for Alaska and our country,” he said.

ConocoPhillips also holds leases covering 1 million acres in the reserve. Oil is expected to flow from Willow starting in 2029.

ConocoPhillips had said in a letter to Interior in December that the proposed rule would not directly affect operations already authorized on its leases. But it said it would adversely affect future proposals for new activities and developments and conflict with existing lease rights.

Now that the rule is final, a representative with ConocoPhillips on Friday said in an email the company is still reviewing the rule to determine its scope and effect.

“Throughout this entire process, we have raised concerns about the substance of the proposed rule,” said Rebecca Boys, a spokesperson with the company. “We believe the public interest is served by balanced rules that allow for responsible energy production from the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska, which the Congress set aside for American energy development.”

Kara Moriarty, president of the Alaska Oil and Gas Association, said the group holds the view that the new rule will affect not just future leases, but current leases held by several companies in the reserve.

That could potentially cost Alaska billions of dollars in investments, she said.

“Anything that they want or need to do next, will have to go through this new rule,” she said.

The Interior Department said it received more than 100,000 comments on the petroleum reserve rule, including from Alaska Native tribes, corporations, communities and others.

North Slope Borough Mayor Josiah Patkotak said in a statement that leaders from the region broadly opposed the rule.

“To refuse to listen to our voices is to say that you know better — better than the people who have been this land’s stewards for the past 10,000 years, and who depend on its continued health for their own survival,” Patkotak said.

The restrictions in the petroleum reserve will hurt tax revenue for the North Slope Borough and its eight Alaska Native communities, the Voice of the Arctic Iñupiat said in a statement.

“The federal government has again excluded the Indigenous North Slope Iñupiat from policymaking by issuing a final rule for the NPR-A that does not reflect our communities’ wishes,” said Nagruk Harcharek, president of the Voice of the Arctic Iñupiat.

Revenue from oil development over several decades has helped Alaska Native communities on the North Slope enjoy basic services, he said.

Now those revenues are threatened if oil development stalls, he said. That’s in part because there could be less benefit from a mechanism in federal law that provides royalty income from oil development to local villages.

Conservation groups praised the limits proposed for the petroleum reserve and the effort to create new special areas.

The announcements are an important step in Biden’s growing climate legacy, said Kristen Miller, executive director at Alaska Wilderness League.

“The Biden administration’s actions for America’s Arctic shows a commitment to conservation that meets the needs of the region’s outsized vastness and ecological value,” Miller said.

“We are deeply grateful that the Biden administration has taken steps to safeguard globally significant and invaluable resources, address climate change impacts, and implement stronger protections for Special Areas in the Western Arctic,” said Meda DeWitt, The Wilderness Society’s interim state director for Alaska.

The Ambler Road

Several tribal leaders and conservation groups said they were thrilled by the recommendation to stop the Ambler Road.

“This is a historic win for the Alaska Native community,” said Brian Ridley, chief chair for the Tanana Chiefs Conference, a large tribal consortium in the Interior of Alaska that has sued along with other tribes to stop the road. “It reaffirms that our voices matter, that our knowledge is invaluable, and that our lands and animals deserve protection.”

The proposed gravel road would link Alaska’s skeletal road system north of Fairbanks to the mining district, ending near Ambler and other villages. A portion of it would cross the Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve.

The road would irreparably damage permafrost and require 3,000 stream crossings, Interior said. It would impact important subsistence wildlife, including sheefish and the declining Western Arctic caribou herd, Interior said, citing the environmental review.

The road’s construction costs are estimated to run at least $750 million, including related infrastructure such as maintenance stations.

The proposed funding plan for the road is speculative, the agency said. The state economic development agency would sell bonds to pay for the road, with mining companies paying fees.

But there are no mines or even mine proposals before the federal government in the area, the agency said. It’s likely the road would eventually be used by the public, Interior said.

Deantha Skibinski, executive director of the Alaska Miners Association, said a decision preventing the road will stop billions of dollars of potential mineral development, including for resources needed to support Biden’s agenda to boost renewable energy.

That includes large copper deposits and cobalt needed for clean energy hardware like wind turbines and rechargeable batteries.

She asserted that the recommendation, if finalized by the Biden administration, will violate the 1980 Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act, which set aside vast portions of Alaska for conservation and called for surface access to the mining district, including requiring it through National Park Service lands.

A representative with Ambler Metals, which is exploring two mineral prospects in the Ambler mineral district, said the action circumvents the intent of the federal law and will prevent jobs from going to Alaska Native villages.

“We are deeply disappointed by the Bureau of Land Management’s politically-motivated decision to block construction of the Ambler Access Project,” said Kaleb Froehlich, managing director of Ambler Metals.

The decision deprives Alaska Native communities from good-paying jobs and millions of dollars of badly needed tax revenues and economic investment, Froehlich said.

The economic development agency said in a statement that the action represents another “illegal and direct assault on Alaska and its statehood property rights.”

During the comment period for the Ambler road, nearly 90,000 people offered written comments, the Interior Department said in a statement. Extensive public meetings and consultations with tribal and Alaska Native corporations were held, the agency said.

Theresa Pierno, president of the National Parks Conservation Association, said national park visitors should celebrate the decision.

“By rejecting this mining road, President Biden and Secretary (Deb) Haaland have shown that they know how important it is to safeguard America’s treasured lands and respect the communities that have relied on and protected them for generations,” Pierno said.

Alex DeMarban

Alex DeMarban is a longtime Alaska journalist who covers business, the oil and gas industries and general assignments. Reach him at 907-257-4317 or [email protected].