Glassdoor is Ordered to Reveal Identities of Anonymous Zuru Reviewers

A new lawsuit indicates that those Glassdoor reviews you’re writing may not be anonymous, Jane Their reports in a story for Fortune. Recently, Alex Tse, a magistrate judge in a Northern California district court, ruled in favour of New Zealand-based billion-dollar toy company Zuru in its case against Glassdoor. Zuru’s co-CEOs alleged that anonymous “false, disparaging and defamatory” reviews on the employer-review site materially harmed its business and complicated its recruiting process.

In January, Zuru filed a subpoena against Glassdoor to compel it to reveal the identities of the person or people who slammed Zuru on the site, calling it a “burnout factory” with a “toxic” culture and “incompetent” leaders. In court, Zuru said it plans to file a defamation lawsuit in New Zealand against whoever posted these on Glassdoor, once their identities are revealed.

Even though the ruling occurred in a US federal court, Judge Tse said he made the ruling based on New Zealand law, as Zuru intends to sue in that jurisdiction, Their writes. Therefore, the court’s ruling was decided based on New Zealand law’s definition of defamation, and not the US legal definition.

In other words, Glassdoor shouldn’t be ordered to turn over “anonymous” user data in any case solely based on US law. But you never know.

Original article by Jane Their, Fortune, July 20, 2022.

Photo by Elisa Ventur.