Acceptable Use Policy

1.1Who this applies to

This Acceptable Use Policy ("AUP") applies to everyone who uses the ScoreReviews UK platform (the "Service"), including businesses, reviewers, agencies, API integrators and anyone accessing content published through the Service.

This AUP is part of the Terms of Service. Breaching it may lead to review removal, account suspension, permanent removal and, for serious breaches, referral to the Competition and Markets Authority, the Information Commissioner or law enforcement.

1.2The principle

The Service exists to publish truthful, verified reviews of real transactions. Anything that undermines that goal is prohibited, whether or not it is expressly listed below.

2.1Prohibited review conduct

• Submitting a review of a business you have never transacted with
• Fabricating a transaction to obtain the right to leave a review
• Copying, editing or reposting another person's review as your own
• Coordinating with others to submit multiple reviews of the same business
• Submitting a review on behalf of another person without their knowledge and consent
• Reviewing a competitor or a business you are professionally associated with without disclosing the relationship

2.2Prohibited business conduct

• Offering discounts, gifts, prizes or entries in return for a positive review
• Filtering, gating or suppressing negative reviews before they reach the Service
• Threatening or retaliating against reviewers, including through defamation claims used to intimidate
• Creating or purchasing accounts to leave reviews of your own business
• Purchasing or exchanging reviews with other businesses
• Using the invitation system to send anything other than a genuine post-transaction review request

3.1Not permitted in any review

• Personal data of a third party (full names of staff, home addresses, phone numbers, health information)
• Threats of violence, hate speech, or content targeting protected characteristics
• Sexual, obscene or graphic material
• Defamatory allegations presented as fact without evidence
• Confidential information (trade secrets, litigation privileged material, restricted commercial terms)
• Content that infringes another person's copyright, trademark or other intellectual property rights

3.2Business responses

Businesses may reply publicly to any review. Replies must not disclose Personal Data about the reviewer, must not threaten legal action to suppress criticism, and must not misrepresent facts about the transaction under review.

4.1Prohibited platform conduct

• Scraping, crawling or bulk-copying published reviews outside the documented API
• Circumventing rate limits, authentication, watermarks or moderation systems
• Reverse engineering the Service, except to the minimum extent required by applicable law
• Using the Service to build, train or evaluate a competing review product
• Attempting to gain unauthorised access to any account, system, or data
• Uploading malware, running denial-of-service attacks, or interfering with other users

4.2Automated access

Automated access is permitted only through the official API and only within the documented rate limits. Free-tier read access is available for public review data; write access requires an authenticated account.

5.1Right to review

Any consumer who has completed a genuine transaction has the right to publish an honest review, positive or negative. The Service will not accept a business request to remove a review solely because it is negative.

5.2Anti-retaliation

Businesses must not retaliate against a reviewer, whether by charging reprisal fees, refusing service, disclosing the reviewer's Personal Data, or by pursuing SLAPP-style legal action intended solely to intimidate.

6.1How we enforce

• Automated systems flag suspected fake or off-topic reviews before publication
• Human moderators review flagged content and complaints within one working day
• Clear breaches are removed within 24 hours
• Repeated breaches or pattern behaviour lead to account suspension
• Serious or coordinated breaches lead to permanent removal and public disclosure on the business profile

6.2Appeals

Any removal or suspension decision may be appealed within thirty (30) days. Appeals are handled by a moderator who was not involved in the original decision and are answered within two working days.

Where a decision is upheld and the affected party disagrees, they may refer the matter to an independent alternative dispute resolution provider identified in the appeal decision.

6.3Regulatory referrals

The Service may report suspected breaches of the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 (including fake and misleading review provisions) to the Competition and Markets Authority, and suspected data-protection breaches to the Information Commissioner's Office.

7.1How to report

Anyone who believes content on the Service breaches this AUP can flag it directly on the review, use the in-app report form, or email abuse@myverireviews.com. Reports include the review URL, the reason and any supporting evidence.

Vulnerability disclosures should be sent to security@myverireviews.com under our responsible disclosure programme, not through the abuse channel.

8.1Updates

We may update this AUP from time to time. Material changes are announced at least thirty (30) days in advance through the dashboard and by email to the account owner.

Continued use of the Service after the effective date of an update constitutes acceptance of the updated AUP.