Blogger Sued After Bad Restaurant Review Ranks Highly in Google

A French judge has ruled that blogger Caroline Doudet should pay damages to a restaurant owner after her negative blog review was ranking highly in Google’s search results and damaging the restaurants reputation.

Ms Doudet was sued by the restaurant owner of II Giardino, based in a region of southwestern France, after she wrote a not so flattering blog review about the ‘poor service’ and ‘poor attitude’ that she encountered after dining there in 2013.

The blog post was entitled “the place to avoid in Cap-Ferret: II Giardino” and it was appearing fourth in Google’s search results. The review was one of the first things potential customers were seeing when searching online for the restaurant.

The restaurant owners said the article’s prominence in the search results was unfairly hurting their business.

Ms Doudet was ordered by the judge to amend the title of her blog and to pay €1,500 (£1,200) in damages to the restaurant owner and cover the complainant’s costs.

Ms Doudet said she felt that she was being penalised for being ‘too highly ranked’ in Google’s search results.

 

Share this: