Content Policy
RateIt
Last updated: 30 June 2026
Effective date: 30 June 2026
This is the most important document on RateIt. It sets out what content is allowed, what is not, how we moderate, and how a business or person can ask us to remove content. It is the policy we point to when we keep a review up and when we take one down. It forms part of our Terms of Service.
We wrote this policy around a simple principle. Reviews are most useful when they are honest and verified, and most dangerous when they are fake, whether fake praise or fake attacks. RateIt exists to protect honest reviews and remove fake ones, and to do both within the law of Pakistan.
1. The standard we hold content to
A review or other contribution is allowed on RateIt when it is an honest account of a real experience with the business, written by the person who had that experience, and it does not break the law or the rules below.
A review is not protected simply because someone felt strongly. It is protected when it is genuine. An honest negative review of a real experience is exactly the kind of content RateIt is built to carry, and we will defend it. A fabricated review, positive or negative, is not protected and will be removed.
2. Content that is never allowed
The following are prohibited and will be removed:
Fake reviews. Reviews of an experience that did not happen, reviews you were paid or incentivised to write without disclosure, reviews written about your own business or a competitor, and coordinated review activity intended to inflate or attack a business.
Unlawful content under Pakistani law. Content prohibited by the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act 2016 as amended in 2025, including content that is defamatory, content that is false information, content that incites hatred or violence, and content against the categories the Act prohibits.
Defamatory content. Statements of fact about a business or person that are false and damaging. Honest opinion and honest accounts of real experiences are not defamation; deliberate false statements of fact are.
Personal and private information. Posting another person's private information, such as a phone number, address, CNIC, or financial details. This includes the private information of a business owner or staff member.
Harassment and threats. Content that targets, threatens, or harasses an individual.
Hate speech. Content attacking people on the basis of religion, sect, ethnicity, gender, or similar protected grounds.
Illegal, obscene, or harmful content. Including content that sexualises or endangers minors, which we treat with zero tolerance and report as required by law.
Off platform solicitation and spam. Using a review to advertise, to drive people off platform, or to post irrelevant promotional content.
Impersonation. Pretending to be another person, business, or RateIt itself.
3. How we moderate
Every review goes through a moderation pipeline before it is published. The pipeline combines automated rule checks, AI assisted assessment of authenticity and policy compliance, and detection of near duplicate and coordinated content. The automated assessment is advisory. It routes a review to one of a few outcomes: published, held for human review, or rejected. Where the system is uncertain, or where any error occurs, the review is held for a human rather than published automatically. We would rather a genuine review wait briefly than let a fake one through.
We also apply protections against coordinated attacks. For example, a sudden burst of negative reviews against a business can be held for human review rather than published immediately, to guard against extortion and review bombing.
A review being held is not a judgment that it is fake. It means a person will look before it goes public.
4. What businesses can and cannot do
A business cannot delete or edit a review written about it, and cannot pay to remove a review, hide a review, or raise its trust score. This rule is absolute and it is what makes RateIt worth trusting.
A business can claim its profile, respond publicly to any review, add accurate information about itself, and dispute a review it believes breaks the law or this policy through the process below.
5. How to report content or request removal
If you are a business or a person who believes a review or other content on RateIt is fake, defamatory, unlawful, or otherwise breaks this policy, contact us at complaints@rateit.pk with:
The link to the content. A clear explanation of why it breaks this policy or the law. Any evidence you have, for example proof that a reviewer was never a customer. Your relationship to the business or matter.
We will acknowledge your report, review it against this policy and the law, and tell you the outcome. Where content clearly breaks the law or this policy, we remove it. Where a review is a genuine account of a real experience, we will explain why we are keeping it, and the business remains free to respond publicly.
6. Lawful orders and our obligations under PECA
Pakistani law, including the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act as amended in 2025, gives designated authorities power over unlawful online content and places obligations on platforms. The amended law established bodies including the Social Media Protection and Regulatory Authority and the National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency, and it provides for removal of unlawful content within set timeframes.
Where we receive a lawful and properly issued order from a competent authority, such as the Social Media Protection and Regulatory Authority, the National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency, the Federal Investigation Agency, or a court of competent jurisdiction, we will comply with it as required by law and within the time the law requires. We will keep a record of such orders. Where it is lawful and practical to do so, we will inform the affected user.
Complying with a lawful order is a legal obligation and is separate from our own assessment of content under this policy.
7. Appeals
If your review was removed or held and you believe that was wrong, you can appeal by writing to complaints@rateit.pk. Tell us the review and why you believe it is a genuine account of a real experience. A person will review your appeal. We will not restore content that is unlawful or that we are required to keep down by a lawful order.
8. Why we draw the line where we do
We protect honest negative reviews because consumers have a right to share real experiences, and because that is the entire value of RateIt. We remove fake content, positive or negative, because it poisons that trust. We comply with lawful orders because we operate within Pakistan and within its law. And we never let money decide what stays up or comes down, because the moment review visibility is for sale, the platform is worthless.
9. Contact
Reports, disputes, and removal requests: complaints@rateit.pk
General: info@rateit.pk
This policy is grounded in the law of Pakistan as understood at the date above, including the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act 2016 as amended in 2025 and the content removal regime it establishes. The 2025 amendment increased the obligations and potential liability of platform operators. Because of that, RateIt should have this policy, and in particular its defamation and removal provisions, reviewed by a qualified Pakistani lawyer before relying on it.