Publican subjected to fake reviews by animal rights extremist speaks out

A rural pub owner subjected to malicious fake reviews about his business by an animal rights extremist has joined the Countryside Alliance in backing calls for an amendment to the Online Safety Bill, which if accepted, would make it illegal to post fake reviews designed to hurt a victim financially.

Joss Beechim-Horton, the chef at the Manor House Inn near Callington in Cornwall, bravely spoke out in an interview with The Sunday Telegraph. His distressing story has, however, helped spark a national conversation about the very real damage fake reviews can do to a business.

Having posted a picture of a dish containing roast chicken to his pub’s Facebook page, Mr Beechim-Horton was baffled by some of the negative reaction, and so decided to try to work out why one man was repeatedly criticising his food on social media.

After questioning the man directly, who turned out to be a vegan activist, it only led to a tirade about climate change and one-star reviews on Tripadvisor that threatened to damage the reputation of his rural pub.

While Tripadvisor removed the first review, the activist posted a second one-star comment, which was also investigated and eventually removed.

But no matter how well a fake review is dealt with by Tripadvisor, even in the matter of weeks it is live it is feared that the comments could do damage, said Mr Beechim-Horton.

He noticed that the man posting the reviews had posted similar comments about other small rural businesses.

He said: “I feel very worried about how much damage he could do if he continues to post fake reviews. We have no record of him ever visiting and have checked back over six months of booking and walk-ins. We work very hard and barely scraped through the pandemic. Now with spiralling costs, I fear that he has the ability to affect our trade.”

It is not the first time that small businesses have been targeted. The Countryside Alliance has supported dozens of businesses which have been subject to coordinated campaigns by activists to damage their reputations with fake reviews.

The Alliance is backing amendments tabled by Baroness Buscombe to the Online Safety Bill, which are due to be debated in the coming weeks.

The Bill is set to make it an offence to post a false message intending to cause a person psychological or physical harm. The amendment would add financial harm to that list, and also harm to a third party that the message was about, as well as its direct recipients.

David Bean, government relations manager for the Countryside Alliance, said: “Malicious, fake reviews are having a devastating effect on victims and seriously damaging their livelihood. This is exactly the sort of threat the Online Safety Bill should be there to prevent.

“By accepting the amendments, the Government can make it clear that this behaviour is not acceptable and will no longer be tolerated. They will give police and the courts the power to tackle this insidious form of abuse.”

A government spokesman said that they “will carefully consider all proposed amendments to the Bill”.

You can help victims like Joss by signing this important Countryside Alliance e-lobby, urging the Government to accept an amendment to the Online Safety Bill, which would make posting fake reviews a criminal offence.