Hi @NoemiJ , thanks for this very long post.
There are a lot of questions, so we will have to touch several points, but let me start from the basement: Most of the time if a review isn’t posted it is not because we did something wrong.
So why this happens? Reviews are a very sensitive point, because our reviews can influence the consumers. Due to this in several parts of the world there are laws to protect Consumers and Businesses from “Fake reviews”. Laws that are obliging the platform where the reviews are hosted to take an action. Considering that there are more than 150 million of Local Guides it is impossible to have a human operator to check our reviews. All the platforms have built automated systems to do that, and the instruction is: “in the doubt, take it down”. I wrote a very long topic about that: Your review has not been published. Do you know why?
This means that our reviews can be made private even if we have not done anything wrong. So what to do in this case?
The way to act is the same, but with some variations depending on where the review was written. For reviews related to places that are within the EU, in fact, we get a notification, and information on what to do. In other places, we don’t. The reason is that in the EU there is a specific law that obliges those who block our review to inform us.
As you may already know a review can be blocked if the text or any of the attached media is found to be contrary to the policies: Maps user-generated content policy - Maps User Contributed Content Policy Help
What we need to know is how to find your 31 blocked reviews and what to do to get them released.
Reviews in the EU
This is easy, because you can see the blocked reviews in your contributions, as we can see from your screenshots, and you also receive an email informing you
Reviews outside the EU
This part is a bit more challenging, because you have to view your public profile (you can open this link in a web browser in incognito mode) and compare it with the contributions in your private profile (when you are logged in).
the next steps are always the same:
- if the review contains images try to remove them.
- if after removing the images the review is not published (or if there are no images), try to correct the text. Making the review “personal” can help.
Appeal
If after this the review is not published you can appeal, so that an operator can verify the review(s). The appeal procedure varies between locations in the EU and locations outside the EU.
Appeal in the EU
The appeal is automatically made available for each individual review, if the alleged violation is related to the text of the review. Just click on the “Appeal” link. The verification is quite fast, and usually in a couple of days the review is released
Appeal outside the EU
The verification process takes up to two months, but you only need to make one appeal for all blocked reviews. To do so, use this form: Account investigation for contributions not visible on Google Maps
Please remember that after you have appealed you must not modify the review, because this action will cancel the appeal submitted, and you will have to appeal again.
Finally, regarding the message that has appeared on everyone’s profile since today, it is a general message (very poorly written) that is not specifically related to your reviews. But I think you already know that, because you said you had already seen my today’s topic: Nothing to be scared of: New "Consumer alert message in your profile
Please let me know if anything is unclear