If you’ve ever searched “How To Delete Reviews On Facebook,” you’re not alone.
Facebook reviews (now under “Recommendations”) carry a huge weight. A single negative comment can influence potential customers, damage reputation, or discourage new leads. In fact, reputation matters: 89% of consumers expect businesses to respond to both positive and negative reviews.
But what if someone leaves a review that’s unfair, spammy, or outright false? Can you simply delete it?
In this post, we’ll walk through how Facebook handles reviews, whether deletion is possible, and best practices to manage your review profile over time.
Understanding Facebook Reviews / Recommendations
Facebook’s “Recommendations” system allows customers to rate and review your Page, share comments, and tag photos. These reviews help future customers see social proof and trustworthiness.
There are three general types:
- Positive reviews – customers praise your service or product.
- Negative reviews – criticism, complaints, or poor experiences.
- Spam, harassment, or fraudulent reviews – content violating rules (spam links, fake claims, abusive content).
Because reviews influence perception and conversion, businesses take them seriously. According to one compilation of online-review stats, 78% of consumers say that when management responds to reviews, it makes them trust the business more.
Also, reports suggests that businesses that respond to reviews average 35% more revenue than those that don’t. So managing reviews is not just optics, it has real financial implications.
Can You Actually Delete a Facebook Review?
Here’s the core truth: As a Page owner, you usually cannot outright delete a user’s review unless the content violates Facebook’s policies.
Why? Facebook’s review (recommendation) system is built for transparency and trust — removing every negative opinion would undermine that.
What you can do includes:
- Report the review to Facebook if it violates community standards (spam, harassment, false claims, hate speech, etc.).
- Turn off future reviews/recommendations entirely (if you’re okay with sacrificing social proof).
- Hide or filter comments (for posts), though that does not remove a formal review.
So, deletion only happens when Facebook agrees the review breaks its rules.
How to Report or Remove a Problematic Review
Here’s a step-by-step guide:
- Go to your Facebook Page, and find the “Recommendations” or “Reviews” tab.
- Locate the specific review you believe should be removed.
- Click the three dots (⋯) next to the review.
- Select “Find support or report recommendation.”
- Choose a reason: e.g. “Spam,” “Harassment,” “False Information,” “Hate speech,” etc.
- Submit your report.
Once you submit, Facebook may or may not act — it depends on their judgment against the report’s merits.
Pro tip: If possible, encourage another trusted user or customer (with a legitimate Facebook account) to also report the same review. Multiple flags can increase attention.
Also, be patient. Facebook’s review of content may take several hours or even days.
If you prefer to avoid future reviews, you can disable them:
- Go to Page settings → Templates and Tabs → Toggle off the “Recommendations” (or “Reviews”) tab.
- Note: Doing this hides the reviews from public view, but doesn’t erase them — if you re-enable later, they’ll come back.
Alternatives to Deleting – What to Do Instead
Because deletion isn’t always possible, here are better approaches:
1. Respond Professionally & Promptly
A courteous, empathetic response can neutralize the negative impact. When a business shows that it cares and will take action, many readers give the benefit of the doubt.
As noted above, responding to reviews is correlated with higher revenue performance.
Also, 55% of consumers rank a business owner’s response among the top 3 review factors that make them feel positively about a local business.
2. Request an Update or Follow-Up
If you resolve the issue, politely ask the reviewer to revisit or update their review. Many users are happy to adjust once they feel heard.
3. Suppress Damage via Social Proof & Volume
Encourage your satisfied customers to leave positive recommendations. More positive reviews dilute the impact of occasional negatives. According to aggregated data, businesses with more than nine current reviews earn 52% more revenue on average.
4. Highlight Testimonials / Showcase Feedback Elsewhere
Embed positive feedback on your website, marketing materials, or social posts. That way, prospective customers see the full context, not just the review section on Facebook.
Long-Term Best Practices for Review Management
To maintain a healthy review profile long term:
- Customer service first: Aim to prevent negative reviews by delivering great experiences.
- Ask for feedback: After a positive interaction, encourage customers to leave a review.
- Monitor reviews regularly: Set up alerts so you’re notified when new recommendations arrive.
- Have a response protocol: Draft templates (but personalize) for quick replies to both positive and negative reviews.
- Use reputation management tools (if budget allows) to aggregate and monitor reviews across platforms.
Also, consistency matters: people are more forgiving when businesses respond transparently over time.
Conclusion
In short: you can’t always delete a Facebook review. Your best tools are reporting violations, responding professionally, and building a stronger base of positive reviews to outweigh the occasional negative.
The truth is, reputation management goes beyond a single platform. Every comment, review, and mention across the web contributes to how customers see your brand. That’s why businesses are increasingly turning to business reputation management to monitor reviews consistently, respond effectively, and build a trustworthy online presence.
At Sierra Exclusive, we specialize in helping businesses take control of their online reputation. Our social media marketing agency ensures that negative reviews don’t define your brand but your professionalism.
Ready to protect and grow your online reputation? Get in touch with Sierra Exclusive today and let’s build trust that lasts.
