Tru Revu empowers South African small- and medium-sized businesses to manage their reputations and ethically rebut false, inflated, defamatory or otherwise negative reviews posted on consumer review websites that deserve a response, but for which other platforms demand monthly subscriptions for the right to reply.
Tru Revu is a South African-focused digital platform designed to address the inequities in online review ecosystems, particularly the paywall and subscription-model barriers imposed by other review sites. Launched as a blog-style forum, Tru Revu enables businesses to quote abbreviated and relevant excerpts from negative reviews and post factual, evidence-based replies. This model supports businesses’ legal and ethical rights to correct false, inaccurate or defamatory content under the Protection of Personal Information Act (PoPIA), 2013, while fostering transparency and consumer trust.
The model also promotes transparency and fairness in consumer feedback by addressing paywall barriers on dominant platforms. It focuses on empowering SMEs to correct inaccuracies, aligning with South African laws emphasizing consumer rights and fair competition.
Our mission is to democratize the “right to reply” by providing an accessible, compliant alternative to high-cost subscription models, helping SMEs mitigate reputational harm from unverified reviews. This also puts consumers into a position to have the full picture on a business reputation, instead of only one side which might have been posted by a vindictive, malicious consumer, business competitor or other unscrupulous poster.
Tru Review charges only a nominal adminstrative and moderation fee and was created to support Section 5 rights of individuals and businesses under the Protection of Personal Information Act, 4 of 2013.