How to Flag a Review on The Trust Search | Reviewer’s Guide

As a community member, you can help keep The Trust Search safe and trustworthy for everyone by flagging reviews that violate our reviewer guidelines or policies.

Flagging allows you to report a review to The Trust Search moderation team so that they can take the necessary step to take it down if it does indeed violate a policy.

This guide explains how to flag a review on The Trust Search, step by step.

Note: “Flagging” is a community-member feature. The feature businesses use to report reviews is referred to as "disputing."

1. Locate the Review You Want to Report

Before you can flag a review, you need to first locate it on the platform. You can find reviews in two places:

• The Trust Search’s homepage

• The business profile where the review is posted on

If the review you want to report is posted recently, here’s how to locate it:

On The Trust Search’s Homepage

1. Visit The Trust Search.

2. Scroll down to the review section.

3. Navigate the reviews using the left (<) and right (>) navigation buttons to browse reviews until you find the one you’re looking for.
   

   

4. Click the flag icon on the review, which appears below the date of experience.
   

   

This will take you to the flag screen.

On the Business Profile

While recent reviews are shown on the website’s homepage, finding a specific review requires you to open the business profile and search it there. So if the review you want to flag is not shown on the homepage, here’s how you can find it:

1. Visit The Trust Search to find the business profile the review is posted on.

2. Search for the business using the search bar at the top to search. Click on it and type the business name to get started,
   

   

3. Select the correct business profile when it appears.

4. Use filters if you can’t narrow down the profile you’re looking for. Press enter while your cursor is active on the search bar to open the advanced search screen where you can narrow down the search options by applying different filters, including:

   • Rating of the business

   • Location of the business

   • City or zip code of the business

   • The “Nearby” filter, which shows businesses that are nearby your location.

   • The “Sort by” option, which allows you to sort business profiles by rating, reviews, and distance.

5. Click to open the business profile once the correct one is found.

6. Next, find the “Customer Reviews” section by scrolling down the profile. Here, you can use the left (<) and right (>) navigation buttons to look for the required review.
   

   

7. Click the “See All Reviews” button if you can’t find the intended review in this section. This will display all the reviews the business has with search features.
   

   

8. Here, you can enter text in the search bar to search for the review you want to flag.
   

   

9. Try applying different filters to narrow down the search results further, including:

   • Rating (5-star, 4-star, 3-star, 2-star, or 1-star)

   • Recency

   • Business location (found in “More filters” option). This allows you to filter the results based on the business’s branch location.

   • Verified (found in the “More filters” option). This allows you to filter the results based on whether reviews are verified or not.

   • Replies (found in the “More filters” option). This allows you to filter the results based on whether reviews have received a reply from the business or not.

   • Date posted (found in the “More filters” option). This gives you the option to filter reviews by date ranges, including:

     • last 30 days

     • last 3 months

     • last 12 months
       

After locating the review, you can proceed to flag it.

2. Click the “Flag” Icon

Once you’ve found the review you want to report, click the flag icon, which appears just below the date of experience. Clicking this button will take you to the report review screen.

3. Select the Reason

Next, you need to select the appropriate reason you’re flagging the review for. You can select multiple reasons or scenarios when reporting a review, but only from one category.

4. Describe the Issue

A description of the issue is required for flagging any review. Scroll down a little to find it. Click inside the box and explain what happened to give us more context. Keep your description within 1,000 characters.

5. Upload Supporting Evidence (optional)

You can also upload images or screenshots related to the issue as supporting evidence. Make sure your media is helpful. If you don’t have any supporting evidence, you can skip this part and still flag the review.

6. Submit the Report

Once you’ve added all the details, you can submit the report.

1. Confirm: Click the small confirmation box to check it. This is a required step in review flagging.
   

   

2. Double-Check the Report: Just to be sure that your report is accurate, double-check it before submitting.

3. Click “Continue”: Once you’re done selecting the reasons, describing the issue, and attaching supporting evidence, click the “Continue” button at the bottom of the reporting interface to submit your report.

Make sure you submit your review report before going back. Going back without submitting it will discard the report, and you’ll have to start over when flagging the review again.

Reasons You Can Select to Report a Review

You can report a review for the following exact reasons:

1. Fake Review

Select this primary reason when you suspect the review to be fake.

When employees or individuals with a financial stake review a business without clear disclosure, it violates the Federal Trade Commission’s guidelines on deceptive endorsements. Flagging these reviews helps maintain a fair, unbiased marketplace. 

Selectable reasons include:

• Not based on a genuine experience

• Reviewer never used the product

• Fake purchase or fake invoice

• AI-generated or manipulated review

• Paid or incentivized review

• Business reviewing itself

• Competitor attempting to harm the business

• Other reason (needs to be specified)

The Trust Search takes strict action to prevent fake reviews. If your report is true, the review will be immediately taken down.

2. Spam

Select this primary reason when you suspect the review to be spam.

Selectable reasons include:

• Irrelevant or off-topic content

• Repeated or duplicated content

• Promotional or advertising content

• Contains suspicious links or URLs

• Keyword stuffing or excessive hashtags

• Multiple reviews in a short period

• Automated or bot-generated content

• Other reason (needs to be specified)

3. Conflict of Interest

Select this primary reason when you suspect the review to be from the business itself or from one of their competitors.

Selectable reasons include:

• The reviewer is an employee or owner.

• The reviewer has a financial interest.

• The reviewer received special treatment.

• Other reason (needs to be specified)

4. Personal Information

Select this primary reason when you believe that the review discloses your (or someone you personally know) information.

Selectable reasons include:

• Contains full name or address

• Contains phone number or email

• Contains financial information

• Contains other private details

• Other reason (needs to be specified)
  

Exposing sensitive details in a public forum poses a severe security risk. The FTC warns that exposed personal data can easily lead to identity theft, which is why we urge our community to flag any reviews containing private contact or financial information immediately. 

5. Offensive Content

Select this primary reason when you suspect the review to be fake. Selectable reasons include:

• Hate speech or discrimination

• Harassment or bullying

• Profanity or vulgar language

• Threats or violence

• Sexually explicit content

• Other reason (needs to be specified)

6. Other (Reason)

Select this primary reason when none of the above-mentioned reasons don’t describe your issue.

While selecting this reason, you can describe the reason you’re reporting the review for manually by typing in the explanation box.

What Happens After Flagging a Review?

After you successfully flag a review, our moderation team views the submitted report and its contents, including your provided reasons, explanation, and supporting evidence, as well as the original review and its transaction evidence and media. However, removal is not warranted just because you flagged.

If your flag report turns out to be reasonable and true in the investigation, the review is taken down from the platform. But if your report is unable to reasonably prove that the review is in violation of our guidelines, the review is kept live.

You may also receive a warning if our team suspects your flag report to be unreasonable, so make sure you flag a review only when reasonable.

Tips for Making Flags Helpful

Here are some tips that help make flags more helpful for The Trust Search’s moderation teams:

1. Know when to report a review. Sometimes, a review is just harsh in wording. And while it may seem rude, using critical language is not a violation of our guidelines, and hence not a valid reason to report. Understanding when to flag a review prevents unnecessary reports flooding moderation systems.

2. Check the review details before reporting. Make sure you have read the review and examined its invoice carefully to ensure you’re not making a mistake.
   

   

3. Select the appropriate reason. Make sure your selected reason describes the issue you’re trying to report. If your selected reason is unreasonable or contradicts the review content, our moderation team may need further investigation to understand the situation.

4. Explain the issue in detail. If you’re reporting a review, it helps us greatly if you explain the issue in detail, allowing moderators to understand the matter without scratching their heads and wondering what exactly the issue is.

5. Add supporting evidence if possible. Pictures or screenshots that are related to the issue and that help describe it visually can greatly assist the moderation team in understanding your review report. So if you can attach a file that helps, don’t hesitate to do so.

Check the following links for more helpful guides on The Trust Search:

• How to Write a Review on The Trust Search - Step by Step

• How to Write a Review: Guidelines and Tips

• The Trust Search Blog

Frequently Asked Questions

1. What reason should I select when flagging a review?

Always select the reason that most accurately describes the issue you’re trying to report. You can select multiple reasons or scenarios, but you should do so only when they’re relevant.

2. What happens after I flag a review?

After you flag a review, The Trust Search’s moderation team investigates the report before deciding whether to keep it live or take it down.

3. How do I know if the review I flagged is removed?

You will be notified about the outcome of your review flag once the issue has been processed and concluded by our moderation team. You can find the notifications center on the website’s homepage after logging in. If you’ve enabled email notifications, you may also receive an email.