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How to handle a defamatory attack to your online reputation

This is Solar day 28 of our new series: 30 days to a amend online reputation. Be certain to subscribe to our blog and so y'all don't miss a single important lesson!

"A lie can travel halfway around the globe while the truth is putting on its shoes." Mark Twain

There are few justifiable reasons for getting heavy-handed in social media. When you're facing a defamatory reputation assault is ane of them. It'southward tough enough to protect your reputation from justified criticisms when you lot mess upwardly, but it's just plain unfair when someone attacks your good name without merit.

A reputation set on of this kind still requires a softly-softly arroyo, you lot don't desire to stir upwards any back up for your aggressor by being too heavy-handed, merely that doesn't hateful you can't release the hounds when warranted.

The non-legal legal arroyo

According to the blog search engine Technorati, 94% of bloggers volition retract, edit, or delete wrong data if you contact them. That'southward good news, considering that's the approach yous should accept when being defamed online. Rather than mitt this immediately to your chaser and incur the extra expense, your first contact should be a direct email or letter. The tone of the letter should be friendly but firm. Explain that the writer of the defamatory content has fabricated a mistake in their statement. Provide them with correct information and explain that the continued publication of the inaccurate comments will hurt you financially.

Your goal hither is to avoid putting their backs against the wall. If y'all get-go out with a full on "end and desist" letter, you may panic them in to doing something that could be farther detrimental to your reputation—such as trying to invoke a David versus Goliath story with their audience. Instead, a casual email will suffice in letting them know that they take made a fault, showing them how to brand things right, and subtly implying that whatever lack of cooperation will exit you with no choice but to pass the matter to your legal counsel and pursue litigious recourse.

Delete, delete, delete

When making your request, it'south important to spell out exactly the activeness you wish the defaming detractor to take. If yous don't make your demands clear, and so you run the run a risk that the author will do nothing more than mail service an extract of your email to the original article. That's not skilful plenty.

No one e'er reads the retraction section of a paper. Okay, maybe a few exercise, merely only after they're done with the obituaries. It'due south the same with online publications—no one always cares most the follow-upwards post or the footnote edit. Certainly Google doesn't care. The negative story is what garnered all of the attending, all of the back links, and all of the social shares. The negative story is what Google will show when anyone searches for you.

What you should always request is a full deletion of the defaming statements. The article, web log post, tweet, or status update should be fully deleted. That is the just guaranteed way to avoid it showing upward in Google. If they're not willing to delete information technology completely, then the next all-time solution is for it to exist completely redacted of whatever defamatory statements. They should alter the title of the post, remove your proper name from the headline, and make sure that anyone reading the page quickly understands that the author made a mistake. If you tin too get them to add a "noindex" tag to the HTML, and then that will instruct Google non to show the folio in its search results.

Taking legal action

If you are unable to get the author to comply with your request, so information technology's fourth dimension to take legal action. A sternly worded letter of the alphabet from your chaser will permit them know you mean business. Facing the take a chance of an expensive legal fight, most people will comply with your requests.

If they don't and then it'due south time to put the affair before a gauge. Defamation laws are tricky to empathize. You can't sue someone for defamation just considering you didn't like the review they did of your company. A successful merits must prove that the argument was simulated, caused financial impairment, and was made with no attempt to research the truth. If you happen to be a notable person, such as a glory or public official, y'all too have to prove malice. That's a lot of proof needed.

Bold yous tin make a solid instance, you'll win a court guild, forcing the author to remove their libelous statements. If they won't, are unable to, or you've sued a "John Doe" because yous don't know the true identity of the detractor, so your court order tin can be sent to Google, requesting that information technology remove the content from its index.

Defamation volition be your strongest argument in any legal remedy, but that'southward not your only option. If appropriate, you can make claims for copyright or trademark infringement, only again y'all tin't get a negative review removed merely because someone used your trademark in their write upwards.

Kick 'em where it hurts

Your goal is to become the inaccurate information removed from the web. While a court victory is the merely guaranteed method to achieve this, it'due south not the only manner.

Report them to their registrar – some domain proper name registries have strict policies that forbid web sites from making money from defamatory attacks or from engaging in criminal activities.

Report them to their hosting visitor – in the same style, cheque to see if the blog or news site is violating whatsoever terms and weather condition of their web host provider.

Study them to their social network – while Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest et al might not care that someone is defaming you lot, if that detractor is using your own trademarked proper name as their profile name, then you lot might be able to gain buying of the business relationship by submitting evidence of your trademark.

Report them to Google – if you find that your detractor is violating Google's guidelines about search engine optimization (SEO) spam, let the search giant know. Black hat SEO practices get web sites banned from Google's index every solar day. Likewise, if you run across that they are using, and abusing, Google's AdSense ads then you lot can submit a complaint and have their earnings invalidated. Cutting off the income of someone defaming you is one way to become their compliance.

These four tactics are a last resort approach for removing defamation. While all are perfectly legal, some of your stakeholders might question yous for taking such farthermost steps. Use with circumspection.

Share your side of the story

Even if you have a strong case for defamation and you lot're pursuing a legal resolution, information technology can be many months before you are victorious. In the meantime, the inaccurate statements are out there, hurting your online reputation. If that's the example, you may make up one's mind to address the libelous statements head on.

I learned long ago, never to wrestle with a pig, y'all get muddy; and besides, the grunter likes information technology.

If you determine to get out a comment on the offending weblog post, or share a Facebook update with your side of the story, brand information technology succinct and to the point. Something forth the lines of, "The statements made are 100% false and we have reached out to endeavour and provide accurate data. Unfortunately the author is unwilling to remove their defamatory comments then we regretfully have no choice but to pursue this matter in the courts." Later y'all share your side of the story, effort to avoid beingness fatigued in any further. Going back and forth with your detractor—or their supporters—will merely inflict further harm to your reputation. Equally George Bernard Shaw once said, "I learned long ago, never to wrestle with a pig, you get dirty; and too, the pig likes information technology."

Watch for the echo chamber

Even one time you lot secure a legal victory, your work is not done. You will need to be diligent to monitor for whatsoever reoccurrence of the inaccurate statements. The last matter you want is for a defamatory statement to get an urban legend that gets twisted and contorted until anybody assumes information technology to be truthful.

Likewise, you don't want whatever echoes to prove upwardly in Google's search results. If you're unable to become your detractor's attack removed from Google—considering you lot couldn't evidence defamation due to the comments being truthful—then y'all're going to accept to work hard to convince Google that it shouldn't be shown in its search results. How do you do that? You make sure that Google focuses just on the positive web content that you've created and on Day 29, y'all'll learn how to do just that.

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