Google has rolled out a new reporting option inside Google Business Profiles that lets users flag a business owner’s reply to a review. The feature, called “Report owner response,” gives customers a direct path to report replies that cross the line on tone, topic, or content, and it covers five specific categories plus a route for legal issues.<\/p>\n
The reporting form opens when a user chooses to flag a reply left by a business owner on a Google review. It surfaces the following categories:<\/p>\n
Users also have the option to report legal issues tied to the response, which routes the concern through a separate channel.<\/p>\n
Owner responses are a public-facing extension of a business’s customer service. A reply that drifts into personal attacks, shares sensitive details, or veers off topic can damage trust faster than the original review it answers. The new tool gives Google a structured way to collect reports against those replies, separate from the existing review reporting flow, and signals that reply conduct is now part of what Google is willing to moderate on a Business Profile.<\/p>\n
Reports of problematic owner replies have circulated for years. Cases have included business owners commenting on a reviewer’s appearance and, in more serious instances, responses that disclosed bank account details. Both types of content created risk for the reviewer and embarrassment for the business, and neither had a clean reporting path inside the profile until now.<\/p>\n
The “Report owner response” entry lives within the Google Business Profile and Google Local review interface. Selecting it opens a form with the categories above, along with a separate option for legal issues tied to the reply. The form mirrors the structure Google already uses for reporting reviews themselves, so the experience is familiar to anyone who has flagged a review before.<\/p>\n
Replying to reviews is still a chance to show professionalism and recover from a bad experience, but the bar is now higher in a measurable way. Keep replies focused on the specific transaction or visit, skip personal commentary about the reviewer, and never include private details in a public thread. A short, on-topic acknowledgment or a private follow-up through official channels is almost always the safer move when a review is heated.<\/p>\n
It is a reporting tool that lets users flag a business owner’s reply to a review for being off-topic, profane, harassing, discriminatory, or for including personal information, with an additional option to report legal issues.<\/p>\n
Users can choose from off-topic, profanity, bullying or harassment, discrimination or hate speech, and personal information, and they can also flag legal issues tied to the response.<\/p>\n
The source does not describe what happens after a report is submitted, only that the option now exists and lists the categories users can select.<\/p>\n