Google has been ordered to unmask a bad reviewer by the Federal Court of Australia in a groundbreaking ruling for small businesses.

A Melbourne dentist was granted the order which forces Google to reveal the identity of the anonymous critic, whose review he claims damaged his reputation.

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The negative review about Dr Matthew Kabbabe was left by a user known as ‘CBsm 23’ in late 2019.

The Victorian dentist, who specialises in teeth whitening, uses the internet as his primary tool in attracting new customers.

This was taken into consideration during the hearing.

Defamation

“Dr Kabbabe seeks preliminary discovery to identify the unknown prospective respondent so that he may bring a defamation proceeding against him or her,” Justice Murphy said.

In the comment, CBsm 23 allegedly said that the dentist made the whole experience “extremely awkward and uncomfortable”.

They also said that the procedure didn’t work and it was a complete waste of time, claiming it wasn’t done properly and warning people to stay away.

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Dr Kabbabe’s affidavit showed that he reached out to Google directly on the matter in November 2019.

He requested Google take down the review but they declined to do so.

“On 5 February 2020 Dr Kabbabe sent an email to Google seeking provision of all identifying information about user CBsm 23 for the purposes of bringing a defamation action against that user,” Justice Murphy said.

“On the same day, Google responded and said that it would not remove the review and stated that ‘[w]e do not have any means to investigate where and when the ID was created’.

“I consider that Google is likely to have or have had control of a document or thing that would help ascertain that description of the prospective respondent CBsm 23,” he said.

Ordered to give information

The tech giant is now being compelled to give information to the dentist such as the name, metadata, phone number and IP address linked to the account.

“I consider it appropriate to accede to the application and to grant leave to Dr Kabbabe to serve the proceeding on Google in the USA,” Justice Murphy said.

Mr Kabbabe’s lawyer described the ruling as a “groundbreaking” win for small businesses, the BBC reported.

Google declined to comment as they do not respond to ongoing legal matters.