How to remove a Trustpilot review
Can you remove a Trustpilot review that you believe is unfair or false? The honest answer is that you usually cannot remove it simply on request. This guide explains the only valid reasons, how to flag a review, and what actually works instead.
Can you remove a Trustpilot review?
The short answer: rarely on request
Trustpilot does not delete a review simply because a business asks or because the rating is low. The platform's whole model rests on authentic customer feedback, so removing a review just because it is negative would undermine that promise for everyone who relies on it.
A business cannot pay to have a review removed either. Paying for removal would break the trust that transparency is supposed to build, and the platform simply has no paid removal product on offer.
Who can actually delete a review
The person who wrote the review can delete it at any time from their own account. If a customer changes their mind or posted by mistake, they can remove the review without asking the business for permission.
Trustpilot's compliance team can also remove a review, but only when it clearly violates the published guidelines. Understanding how Trustpilot works makes it clear why removal stays a narrow exception rather than a rule.
The only valid reasons a review gets removed
Reviews that break the content guidelines
Trustpilot removes reviews that contain defamatory language, hate speech, threats, or private personal data. A review that names an employee or leaks a phone number can be reported and then taken down.
Reviews must also describe a genuine buying experience. A post that is a pure opinion about an industry, with no real purchase behind it, falls outside what the platform is willing to accept.
Fake reviews and conflicts of interest
A review written by a competitor, by the business itself, or by a current employee counts as a conflict of interest. Trustpilot forbids these explicitly and removes them once the link to the company is shown.
The platform runs a mix of automated software and human moderators to catch suspicious patterns, such as several reviews posted from the same device or network within a short window of time.
How to flag a review for removal
Use the flag tool on the review
Any user can click the flag icon next to a review and choose a reason that matches the guidelines. The review is then sent to the compliance team instead of being deleted on the spot.
Flagging does not remove the review immediately, and it does not hide it from visitors. It opens a moderation process, and the review stays live while Trustpilot decides whether it actually breaks a rule.
What the compliance team checks
Moderators compare the review against the published guidelines, not against how the business feels about it. A review that is rude, unfair, or plainly negative but still truthful will usually stay up.
If you hold the profile, you can also use the Find Reviewer tool to ask the customer for more details, which sometimes resolves the complaint behind the review without any deletion.
What you can do instead of removal
Reply publicly to the review
A measured public reply often matters more than deletion, because it stays visible for everyone to read. Responding calmly shows future customers that the business listens and fixes problems, something a deleted review can never demonstrate.
Before replying, make sure you have access to the profile. Only a verified business account can post an official response under the review, so you need to reclaim a Trustpilot profile first.
Bury it under newer, genuine reviews
The most effective counter is often simple volume. Inviting real customers to leave feedback steadily pushes an older negative review down the page and slowly raises the overall average over time.
Legitimate invitations, sent only after a real purchase, are the compliant way to grow your score over time. It is the opposite of buying reviews, which the platform treats as fraudulent manipulation.
Removing a review and a domain's reputation
Why one review rarely defines a profile
Most buyers read the overall pattern of a profile, not one isolated comment. A single negative review sits next to every positive one and carries less weight when the overall trend is healthy.
This is why removing one review is rarely the real issue. The score, the volume and the recency of reviews all work together to shape how a visitor judges the whole profile.
What to weigh before buying a profile
If you are buying a domain with an existing Trustpilot profile, read its review history before you commit. A few old negative reviews are usually easier to manage than a profile that has been scrubbed clean.
Transparency usually beats a clean slate. A profile with a visible, answered history tells buyers the business has nothing to hide, which is what you want to see before you buy expired domains.