About this policy
Apperah lets people review places and businesses. Reviews must be honest and based on real experience. This policy sets out what we expect from reviewers and from businesses, and what we do to keep reviews trustworthy. It works together with our Community Guidelines and Acceptable Use Policy.
A review on Apperah can take several forms: you can rate a place (0–10), add short descriptive tags (“vibes”), post a photo with a caption, and take part in a place’s discussion. The same rules in this policy apply to all of these: be honest and first-hand, no paid or fake contributions, and keep it respectful. In a place’s discussion, the name shown next to your contribution follows your profile’s username and privacy settings.
Community recommendations — where a group or community organiser highlights or “recommends” a place to its members — follow the same principles: they must be honest, must not be fake or coordinated to mislead, and any paid recommendation must be disclosed as a paid partnership. The business complaint routes below apply equally to community recommendations of your venue.
Writing a review — the rules
When you post a review, you agree that:
- It’s first-hand. You’re describing your own genuine experience of the place or business.
- It’s honest. Don’t post anything you know to be false. Share opinions as opinions, and don’t state false facts about a business.
- It’s yours and unpaid. Don’t accept money, free products, discounts, or other incentives in exchange for writing a review or for a particular rating. If a business ever offers you something for a review, please report it.
- No conflicts of interest. Don’t review your own business, a business you work for or have a stake in, a competitor, or a friend’s or family member’s business.
- No fake or manipulated reviews. Don’t create or coordinate fake reviews, buy or sell reviews, use multiple accounts, or post “review bombs.”
- Keep it relevant and respectful. No harassment, hate speech, threats, or discrimination; no other people’s private information; no spam, advertising, or off-topic content; no illegal content.
These rules reflect the law — including the US FTC rule on consumer reviews and testimonials (2024) and the EU Omnibus Directive — which prohibit fake and undisclosed-incentive reviews.
For businesses
If a place you operate is reviewed on Apperah:
- You can respond — professionally and factually.
- You may not demand removal of lawful criticism. Negative but honest reviews are allowed. We remove reviews that break this policy or the law, not reviews you simply dislike.
- No review-gating or incentives. Don’t selectively solicit only happy customers, offer rewards for positive reviews, or discourage negative ones.
- No retaliation. Don’t threaten, intimidate, or take legal action to silence honest reviewers.
Your obligations as a business are also covered in the Business Terms of Service (§B10).
What we do
- We may remove or limit reviews that break this policy or the law, and we may remove reviews we reasonably believe are fake, incentivised, or manipulated.
- We don’t change the substance of a review to alter its meaning.
- We may suspend accounts that repeatedly break these rules.
- We report on review moderation in our Transparency Report.
Reporting a review
If you see a review that breaks these rules — or a business trying to manipulate reviews — use Report on the place’s page (or on the photo or user concerned), or email trust@apperah.com. In the EU/EEA you also have the notice-and-action and appeal rights described in our Acceptable Use Policy.