60 Japanese doctors sue Google Maps after clinic's negative reviews

Google Maps is widely used in Japan and functions as the “infrastructure” of daily life.

Tokyo:

About 60 Japanese doctors have accused Google Maps of ignoring harsh reviews of their clinics in a class action lawsuit billed as the first of its kind.

Medical professionals are seeking a total of 1.4 million yen ($9,000) in damages from Google in order to hold Google accountable for its inaction regarding the review.

They sued the company on Thursday, saying they have no authority to respond to or dispute reviews that damage their reputation because of patient confidentiality obligations.

One participating doctor told reporters, “People who post online can say anything anonymously, even if it's nothing more than slander or abusive language.''

“It's like a punching bag,” he said anonymously.

The suit in Tokyo District Court appears to be Japan's first class action lawsuit targeting a platform over negative online reviews, according to the plaintiffs' lawyers.

“Despite the ease of posting, it has become extremely difficult to delete reviews,” lawyer Yuichi Nakazawa told AFP.

“This can leave doctors working in constant fear of receiving a bad review,” he said.

According to the plaintiffs' complaint, the goal of many medical institutions is not to satisfy patients, but to treat patients' illnesses from a professional standpoint.

“Clinics that only give patients a rough diagnosis and prescribe drugs on demand are medically inappropriate, but they are highly valued by patients.''

The plaintiffs argued that because of the nature of their work, doctors are sometimes vulnerable to dehumanizing online attacks by patients who harbor grudges.

If this situation is left unaddressed, doctors “may be reluctant to take a firm stance and may refuse medically unnecessary tests or medicines requested by patients,” Nakazawa warns.

He argued that it would ultimately have a negative impact on society.

According to the lawsuit, Google Maps is widely used in Japan and functions as “infrastructure” for daily life.

As a result, Google should be able to “readily recognize” the harm it would cause to the healthcare industry if unfair reviews were left unchecked, the company said.

The plaintiffs acknowledged that Google removes some reviews on Maps based on its own guidelines, but argued that the standards for removal are unclear and that “very few” reviews are removed. .

Google told AFP it was “working to reduce inaccurate and misleading content on Google Maps.”

“A combination of human operators and computers protects company profiles 24 hours a day and removes inappropriate reviews,” the company said in a statement.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

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