Senate Votes to Protect Your Right to Post Online Reviews

Can a company take away its customers’ freedom of speech? If the Consumer Review Freedom Act passes, businesses will have to learn how to cope with the sting of an occasional bad Yelp review.

The proposed bill, which is now pending in Congress, cracks down on so-called gag clauses that businesses can place in their terms of service that allow them to take legal action against customers who post anything disparaging about the business, including reviews posted online.

Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John Thune, a South Dakota Republican who sponsored the bill, argued that such clauses “stifle free and honest speech” and “decrease consumer power.” The legislation, which covers only contracts with consumers and not employees, already has the support of consumer-advocacy groups and online review websites like TripAdvisor and Yelp.

Some companies, fearing the adverse effect of bad reviews, have been including non-disparagement clauses in contracts that customers must agree to when making a purchase. Many customers don’t even read this fine print, and then receive threatening letters from these companies after they post a negative review, even if their observations are true.

At a hearing on the issue earlier this month, Jennifer Palmer, an Oregonian woman, testified that her husband had bought Christmas gifts from an online retailer called KlearGear. After the gifts never arrived and the company didn’t respond to their complaints, Palmer left a critical review of the company on RipoffReport.com. More than three years later, KlearGear contacted her, claiming she was in violation of a non-disparagement clause in the company’s terms of use and that she owed $3,500 unless she removed the review. But RipoffReport.com doesn’t allow consumers to remove their reviews, and KlearGear reported the $3,500 as an unpaid debt to collection agencies.

“The internet is a critical economic engine, increasingly used for all types of commerce and communication, including for consumer reviews. Some organizations have sought to stifle customers’ abilities to express their opinions online by threatening punitive action if a customer leaves a negative review,” says Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA), one of the bill’s bipartisan sponsors. “The mere threat of monetary penalties or fines for writing honest reviews would chill the free exchange of opinions we expect to find on the Internet. The Consumer Review Freedom Act would put a stop to these outrageous attempts to silence free speech online.”