Google has made significant updates to its review policies in 2025 and 2026. If you manage your business’s online reputation, these changes directly affect you.
AI-Generated Reviews Are Now Banned
As of 2025, Google explicitly prohibits AI-generated review content, regardless of whether the underlying sentiment is genuine. If a customer uses ChatGPT to write their review, it violates Google’s policy even if they had a real experience. Google’s Gemini AI system now actively detects and removes these reviews.
Review Deletion Rates Surged 600%
Between January and July 2025, Google’s review deletion rates increased over 600%. Nearly 2% of all monitored business locations experienced at least one review deletion per week at peak enforcement. Google is clearly investing heavily in review quality.
Review Gating Crackdown
Google is now targeting the software tools that facilitate review gating (filtering out unhappy customers before they can leave a review). Reputation management platforms offering gating features have been affected. If you use a review management tool, make sure it does not gate reviews.
Organized Review Campaigns Flagged
Even campaigns using real customers are now flagged if they exhibit organized patterns. Mass review requests sent to large groups simultaneously are specifically targeted. The safest approach is to request reviews individually over time.
What This Means for Your Business
These changes are actually good news for legitimate businesses. Google is getting much better at removing fake and manipulated reviews. If you have policy-violating reviews on your listing, they are more likely to be removed now than ever before.
The key is knowing how to properly report them. Learn how our 7-stage escalation process works.