Defamation in Saudi Arabia: When a Bad Business Review Is a Crime

A customer ordered a dress from an online store in Jeddah. It arrived in the wrong size, and the store took a week to reply to her messages. She wrote on Google Maps: “My order arrived wrong and they did not reply for seven days.” That is a review. But if she had written: “The owners are crooks who steal people's money,” and attached a photo of the store owner and his mobile number, we would be looking at something completely different, even if the anger came from the same order.

Is a negative review defamation in Saudi Arabia?

Not as a rule. Describing a bad experience with dates and details is a legitimate right: when you ordered, how late the order was, what arrived, and how the store handled your complaint. The number of stars decides nothing; one star with an accurate description of what happened is not a crime.

The line is crossed when the words move from describing an experience to accusing someone of a crime that has not been proven, inventing something that did not happen, or publishing personal data of the business owner or staff to harm them. Here the words themselves, the facts behind them, and how and how widely they were published are examined.

What is the penalty for defaming a store or company online?

Paragraph 5 of Article 3 of the Anti-Cyber Crime Law makes it a crime to “defame others and cause them harm through the various means of information technology”. The penalty is up to one year in prison and a fine of up to SAR 500,000, or one of them.

These are maximum limits, and the court decides the penalty within them according to the facts. Anyone who incited, helped or agreed with another person to publish is punished up to the maximum if the crime occurred (Article 9). So in a coordinated campaign using several accounts against a competing store, the person who wrote the comment is not the only one who can be held liable.

Note that the fine goes to the state. A store owner who reads “SAR 500,000” and thinks it is his compensation will be surprised; compensation is a separate claim that must be proven.

Who is harmed: the company or its owner?

Many people miss this question. A comment may target the business name, it may accuse the owner or a specific employee, or it may be just a remark about the service. Each has its own rule, and they should not be mixed in one complaint without separating them.

Article 138 of the Civil Transactions Law makes compensation for moral harm cover the harm suffered by a “natural person” because of an attack on his reputation. So the company, as a legal person, mainly claims its financial loss, while moral harm is claimed by the natural person the words affected, such as the owner whose name was mentioned or whose photo was posted. Whoever files in the company's name needs proof of his authority to represent it.

What should the store owner collect before filing a complaint?

• A full screenshot of the comment with the account name and publication date, plus the page link and the account link.
• A screen recording of you opening the comment from the link, showing it is really published and not an edited image.
• Replies and edits that appeared on it, including your own reply if you replied.
• The full order file: invoice, shipping details, chats, and proof of refund if there was one.
• Proof of harm: cancelled orders, messages from customers who mentioned the comment, a documented drop in sales after publication.

The order file may show that the original complaint was correct, and that the customer added accusations with no basis. Separating the two parts makes your request specific and convincing: “I do not object to him saying the order was late; I object to him calling me a fraudster.”

A buyer wrote on X that an electronics company “ate his money and did not return it.” The company has a transfer notice proving it refunded the amount five days before the post. That notice is the strongest thing it has.

On the other hand, if the buyer's complaint was that the refund took a month, he may say so with dates, without claiming that the money is still being held.

Should I ask the platform to delete the review, or file a report?

These are two different paths, and you can take both. The platform's reporting tool stops the content from spreading, but the platform's decision to delete it is not a conviction, and the comment staying online does not make it lawful. Save the evidence first, then ask for deletion.

A criminal report is filed with the law enforcement authorities, which must accept and examine reports and complaints for all crimes (Article 27 of the Law of Criminal Procedure). A person harmed by defamation has a private right, and crimes involving a private right are, as a rule, investigated only on the complaint of the victim or his representative, unless the Public Prosecution sees a public interest (Article 17). Your complaint counts as a claim for your private right unless you expressly waive it (Article 29).

How much compensation can a company get for a defamatory review?

There is no fixed figure. Article 120 of the Civil Transactions Law requires anyone who commits a fault that causes harm to another to compensate, and Article 137 defines the harm as the loss suffered and the gain missed, if it is a natural result of the act. So you must prove the loss itself, and that it came from the comment and not from another cause, such as a slow season or a competitor cutting prices.

Civil liability is independent of criminal liability, and the criminal penalty does not affect how compensation is assessed (Article 119). A claim for compensation for a harmful act is not heard after three years from when you learned of the harm and of the person responsible, and if it arises from a crime, it remains admissible as long as the criminal case is admissible (Article 143).

This is general information based on the official Arabic texts of Saudi laws, which prevail over any translation. It is not legal advice for your specific case.

Practical solutions for both sides

If you are the store or company owner:

• Save the comment, its link and the full order file before any reply or deletion request.
• Identify exactly which phrase you object to, and do not ask for all criticism of a real experience to be erased.
• Reply publicly with a short, polite answer that offers a solution; this protects your reputation with readers more than any complaint.
• Do not publish the customer's details or threaten him to force deletion, or you may become the subject of a complaint yourself.
• If you want a settlement, write it clearly: does it end only the dispute over the order, or all claims between the parties?

If you are the customer who wrote the review:

• Write what happened to you, with dates and facts, and do not repeat someone else's experience as if you saw it.
• Avoid crime words such as “fraudster” or “thief”; an accurate description of your experience is enough and more convincing.
• Keep the invoice, the chats, and proof that you tried to solve the problem before posting.
• If you find a mistake in your post, correct or delete it, knowing this does not necessarily erase the effect of the earlier publication.
• If you are summoned, answer about the specific phrases and how you knew what you wrote, and do not repost the dispute.

If there is a published comment about your business, or you received a complaint because of a review you wrote, send us screenshots and links on WhatsApp, and we will read the wording with you and identify the right step.