Facebook is one of the most popular social networking platforms in the world, with billions of people using it every month. It’s great for staying in touch with friends and family, sharing news and experiences, and connecting with like-minded people.
For businesses, it’s also an excellent place to build a community, engage people with your brand, promote upcoming events, and sell products or services.
And because Facebook is so woven into how people discover and evaluate brands, it’s also a place where customers share feedback publicly. That’s why it’s important to keep an eye on your Facebook Page and address negative feedback quickly—before it impacts trust or sales.
In this article, we’ll show you how to do just that.
Why Removing Reviews From Facebook is Worth It
Imagine this: you’re scrolling through Facebook looking for something to do when you see an ad for a new restaurant in town. You click through and check what people are saying, but the feedback is overwhelmingly negative.
What are you going to do? Chances are, you’re not going to visit that restaurant anytime soon.
Now flip it around: you’re the restaurant owner and you’re running Facebook ads to promote your new venture. When users click your ad, they’re curious and primed to give you a shot.
But if the first thing they see is a harsh recommendation or a low rating, they may change their minds and go somewhere else instead. In that case, your targeting and ad spend can get wasted fast.
In this day and age, reputation is everything. And social media can make or break a business quicker than most people realize.
With lots of positive feedback on your Page, you’re more likely to attract new customers and keep them coming back. But if potential customers see negative reviews front and center, they might not even bother giving you a chance.
Plus, customer feedback across the web—including social platforms—can influence how people find and choose local businesses. Even when it doesn’t directly control rankings, it absolutely affects clicks, conversions, and trust.
If you have negative reviews on your Facebook Page, it could be hurting your business more than you realize. That’s why it’s important to deal with them as soon as possible.
The Investment Needed to Remove a Review on Facebook
Before we get into the details of how to remove a review on Facebook, it’s important to note that there’s an investment required.
You can’t simply delete any review left by a customer. If you could, reviews wouldn’t mean anything.
In most cases, the only way to get a review removed is to report it and let Facebook decide whether it violates their rules.
And even then, doing this takes time—often a lot of it. Time will probably be the biggest investment you make if you want to manually manage all of your Facebook reviews.
Online reputation management software helps businesses track and respond to reviews on Facebook and across other sites. With these tools, you can monitor your reputation in near real time and take proactive steps to address negative sentiment.
Many platforms can also help you request more customer feedback and showcase positive reviews in the right places.
The cost of this type of software varies depending on the features offered. Smaller businesses and individual service providers can often find free or low-cost options, while enterprise companies can choose from robust solutions that extend beyond review management into broader customer experience and brand monitoring.
As more consumers turn to online feedback before buying, reputation management tools have become essential for companies looking to protect and strengthen their brand.
If you’re interested in managing your online brand, check out our blog post on the best online reputation management platforms for your business.
6 Steps to Remove a Negative Review on Facebook
If you’ve decided you want to take the necessary steps to remove a negative review on Facebook, follow these instructions:
Step 1: Check your Facebook business profile for reviews
The first step is to check your business Page on Facebook and see what feedback is already posted. If you have a Facebook Page set up, there’s a good chance it’s configured to accept reviews or recommendations.
To check, go to your Page and look for the Reviews or Recommendations section. If you don’t see it right away, it may be tucked under a menu like More or appear as a tab/section depending on your Page layout.
Once you’re there, you’ll see a list of feedback left for your business.
From there, you’ll be able to see the rating or recommendation (if shown), the name of the person who left it, when it was posted, and the text of the review.
Read through everything so you can decide which reviews need a response and which ones might be worth reporting.
Step 2: Disable the ability for customers to leave reviews on your page
Disabling reviews means your business won’t be dragged down by future bad reviews on Facebook. If your primary goal is to avoid negative reviews entirely, turning off this feature is the simplest way to do it—and the only way to guarantee you won’t receive new ones on your Page.
If you decide to do this, remember that disabling reviews also removes your ability to showcase positive feedback. Fewer visible reviews can reduce trust for people who are checking you out for the first time.
Still, if you’re adamant about not dealing with reviews on Facebook, this is the cleanest solution.
To do this, go to your Facebook Page settings and look for your Page’s tabs/sections (often listed under something like Page, Templates and tabs, or Page settings). Find the Reviews/Recommendations section and toggle it off, then save your changes.
You can turn reviews back on at any time through the same settings.
Step 3: Report the review you want to have removed
If you want to keep reviews enabled but remove a specific review, you can report it.
Reporting a review tells Facebook you believe it violates their rules. That can include things like hate speech, harassment, threats, graphic content, nudity, impersonation, scams, spam, fake engagement, or feedback that isn’t actually about your business.
When you report a review, Facebook will review it and decide whether it should be removed.
If Facebook agrees it violates their policies, they’ll take it down.
To report a review, open the review on your Page and look for the options menu (often shown as three dots). Choose the option to report it, then follow the prompts to select the reason.
Keep in mind Facebook may leave the review up if it doesn’t violate their rules—so this isn’t guaranteed.
Step 4: Respond to the negative review
Sometimes, the best reaction to a negative review isn’t to try to delete it. And even if you plan to report it, it’s almost always smart to respond in the meantime.
The key is to respond in a way that doesn’t make things worse. Even if the customer was in the wrong, avoid getting into a public back-and-forth argument.
Instead, acknowledge the issue, apologize for their experience, and let them know you’re looking into it. If it makes sense, offer a reasonable way to make it right.
For example, someone who had a bad experience using your online consulting service may write:
“I paid for a one-hour consultation and the person I spoke to barely gave me any time at all. It was a waste of money.”
In that case, you might respond with something like:
“I’m sorry to hear you didn’t have a good experience. We take feedback seriously, and I apologize that we fell short here. If you’re open to it, I’d like to look into what happened and make it right. Please message us with the details of your session so we can help.”
This approach shows other potential customers you’re paying attention, you care, and you’re willing to resolve problems professionally.
To respond to a review, open the review and use the reply box to post a public response.
If you want to take the conversation private, you can usually message the reviewer directly from the review options (if available) or ask them to message your Page so you can resolve it offline.
Step 5: Encourage your customers to leave positive reviews
The best way to combat negative reviews is to collect more positive, honest feedback from real customers. A handful of strong recommendations can quickly outweigh the occasional bad one.
A few good ideas for getting more reviews include:
- Asking customers to leave feedback right after a successful purchase or service
- Sending an email or text follow-up with a direct link to your Facebook Page
- Adding a “Review us on Facebook” link to receipts, invoices, or your thank-you page
- Embedding Facebook reviews on your website (where it makes sense)
You can also prompt customers with a banner or small pop-up on your website asking them to leave feedback after they’ve had a good experience.
Step 6: Use reputation management software to track mentions and reviews across the internet
Even if you regularly check your Facebook Page, it’s easy to miss things. Social notifications get buried fast, and human error happens—especially when multiple people manage your accounts.
That’s where reputation management software comes in.
Reputation management software lets you track reviews and mentions of your business across the internet, including on Facebook. This way, you’re always aware of what people are saying—even if you’re not logged into Facebook all day.
These tools make it easier to respond quickly, before negative feedback has a chance to do too much damage.
Another great benefit is that they help you track positive reviews and brand mentions across the web, not just on Facebook.
A few great features of online reputation management tools include:
- Sentiment analysis: Know how people feel about your brand at a glance
- Online review monitoring: See reviews from multiple sites in one place
- Mention tracking: Get alerted anytime your business is mentioned online
- Competitor analysis: Keep an eye on what others in your industry are doing
- Personalized reporting: Get detailed reports tailored to your business needs
If you want to take your brand monitoring to the next level, a reputation management tool can make the whole process faster and more reliable.
What’s Next?
There are a lot of different reputation management software programs out there, so it’s important to find one that fits your business.
Do some research and read reviews to find the best option for you. Once you’ve found a program you like, sign up and start tracking your online reputation.
And if you’re not sure where to start, we tried dozens so you don’t have to. Check out our blog post on the best online reputation management software to find the right one for your business’s needs.
