Source: AFP
About 60 doctors in Japan have accused Google Maps of ignoring vitriolic reviews of their clinics in a class action touted as the first of its kind.
The doctors are seeking a total of 1.4 million yen ($9,000) in damages from Google in an attempt to hold the US tech titan accountable for inaction on the reviews.
They sued the company on Thursday, saying they are unable to respond to or rebut defamatory reviews because of their duty of patient confidentiality.
“People posting on the Internet can say anything anonymously, even if it’s nothing more than slander or verbal abuse,” one of the participating doctors told reporters.
“It’s like being a punching bag,” he said on condition of anonymity.
The case in the Tokyo District Court is believed to be the first class action in Japan targeting a platform for negative online reviews, a lawyer for the plaintiffs said.
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“Despite the ease with which they are published, it has become extremely difficult to remove the reviews,” lawyer Yuichi Nakazawa told AFP.
“This can lead to doctors doing their jobs in constant fear of receiving horrible reviews,” he said.
The goal of many medical facilities is not to satisfy patients, but to treat their illnesses professionally, the plaintiffs’ complaint said.
“Clinics that give patients only a cursory diagnosis and prescribe drugs as requested would be medically inappropriate, but are highly valued by patients,” he said.
The nature of the job can also sometimes leave doctors vulnerable to ad hominem attacks online from patients who hold grudges, the plaintiffs argued.
If the condition remains unclear, doctors “may find themselves reluctant to be firm and refuse medically unnecessary tests or drugs that patients request,” Nakazawa warned.
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This ultimately does injustice to society, he argued.
Google Maps is so widely used in Japan that it acts as an “infrastructure” for everyday life, according to the complaint.
So Google should be able to “readily recognize” the downsides to medical businesses if unfair reviews go unaddressed, he said.
The plaintiffs acknowledged that Google removes some Maps reviews under its own guidelines, but the criteria for removal are opaque and “few” are deleted, they claimed.
Google told AFP it was “making efforts to reduce inaccurate and misleading content on Google Maps.”
“By combining human operators and computers, we protect companies’ profiles around the clock and remove unfair reviews,” the company said.
Source: AFP