Sunday Independent | Google agrees to remove reviews of Irish schools

Google is to remove online reviews of Irish schools by parents, students and others from its maps and search listings after a successful campaign by school principals.

The National Association of Principals and Deputy Principals (NAPD) provided the tech giant with evidence — gathered over the past 18 months on its behalf by RiskEye, a specialist online safety firm — of serious difficulties that had arisen for schools and teachers caused by negative reviews posted on Google platforms.

By Fearghal O’Connor | 16 February 2025

Over the last 18 months the NAPD in collaboration with RiskEye, have worked tirelessly to support and protect schools from online harm and successfully lobbied Google to remove the Google Review function from educational facilities.

The VP of Operations at Google Ireland, Paddy Flynn wrote “Later this quarter we will stop accepting reviews on Google Maps and Search for general education school listings in Ireland. This is part of our ongoing efforts to ensure that Google Maps and Search provide helpful, relevant and reliable information for our users, and builds on protections that have been deployed for other facility types.”

Read the full article here: https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/google-agrees-to-remove-reviews-of-irish-schools-after-principals-present-evidence-of-harmful-content/a911385750.html?errorCode=0