A bizarre process

Bad review because of unrequited love

The accused had to stand trial for aggravated coercion.(Bild: © Harald Dostal / 2024)

After a negative Google review, a Linz restaurateur is said to have threatened the critic by telephone. But in court, everything suddenly turned out differently than expected. The accused was acquitted of the charge of aggravated coercion. The verdict is not yet final.

"It makes you lose your appetite" and "Stop using the cheapest of everything" - a 31-year-old woman wrote this and much more about a pizzeria in Linz on Google. This apparently infuriated the landlord so much that he threatened to "burn down" the woman's house. As a result, he now had to stand trial for aggravated coercion.

A bizarre background:
At the trial, however, everything suddenly turned out differently than expected. "She was a regular customer in my restaurant and wanted a relationship with me, but I turned her down." According to the restaurateur, this was the reason for the bad review. "I then asked her via WhatsApp to delete the review." However, he never threatened her.

However, the customer denied this accusation. The relationship is said to have been friendly on both sides: "I write a lot of Google reviews. The review was meant seriously. I don't like the food there."

It was complicated
For the accused, however, this statement made little sense. In order to delete her review, she is said to have demanded that he invite her to her next order. "But if she didn't like it, why would she want to eat it again?" said the landlord. She is also said to have ordered food there again via Lieferando a few weeks after the bad review.

For the court, the verdict was clear: the accused was acquitted. The verdict is not yet final.