What HR should never do
Don't interrogate employees based on writing style guesses. Don't threaten teams. Don't try to hack accounts or pay third parties to deanonymize reviewers. We've seen companies turn a removable review into a PR disaster with heavy-handed internal investigations.
If the review is policy-violating or defamatory, the identification path runs through legal channels — not breakroom detective work.
Legal identification pathways
Subpoenas to Glassdoor (or parent company) for account metadata can work in defamation cases where you have a cognizable claim and a court willing to sign the order. Timelines run months, not days.
Sometimes the reviewer self-identifies through internal details only one person would know. Document that without confronting them publicly. Use it in your Glassdoor dispute or legal filing.
When identification isn't necessary
Many removals succeed on policy grounds alone — fake employment, coordinated posting, demonstrable falsehoods — without ever naming the reviewer. Identification is a means, not the goal.
Our Glassdoor Review Removal team leads with the removal pathway that resolves fastest. Deanonymization is reserved for cases where it's the only remaining lever.