This may come as no surprise to many folks. And I’m fairly sure that Google won’t exactly promote the facts, or this post. But it’s true: try writing a truthful negative review for a business you’ve had problems with. I’ll bet you it gets hidden.

But of course, Google won’t tell you that it’s hidden. It still shows up for you, but isn’t publicly visible. It’s really easy to test in a private browser window.

I wrote truthful negative reviews for a former landlord and a dating service. I can’t even deep-link you because they simply don’t show up publicly.  Collectively, these two shyster companies wasted more than $5,000 of my money. And yet Google won’t let me publicize the truth, or even tell me that in their view, it isn’t truthful or worth telling. That’s really frustrating.

To add insult to injury, I tried to post BBB reviews. Their web form doesn’t even work.