If you are a victim of defamatory online content, you have the option to remove it. The first step is to educate yourself about what exactly you can do.
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October 5, 2020 4 min read
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There is a very real possibility that a brand or organization will find the target of at least some negative information on the internet. This may be justified when they have a proven record of poor service, but often it is the result of internet trolls with an ax to grind. If a website is openly defamatory or slanderous, a company has the option to permanently remove the content from the Internet.
Valid reasons for removing a webpage
In general, there are a few specific reasons a company may try to remove a website. These reasons include:
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defamation
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Fake news
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Trademark abuse
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Competitor executive targeting
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Abuse of trademarks or copyrights
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Counterfeit products
In the case of legitimate negative reviews or websites, there is little an organization can do but fix the problems the reviewer was experiencing. However, it might be shocking to learn that there are entire websites devoted to profiting from defamatory content. They cite their first right to amend freedom of expression, but these websites are often full of abuse and false information. In these cases there may be grounds to take legal action.
Removing a webpage from the internet is not the same as suppressing it from search engine results. The Communications Decency Act of 1996 protects websites where users can comment on or post their own information. This essentially means that they are not responsible for what a user publishes on their website. Legal action in these situations may not be appropriate.
Related topics: Managing (and repairing) your company’s online reputation
Escalation of force
Attempting to shut down a website most often follows an “escalation of violence” pattern, in which a company first tries to get the author to voluntarily shut down the page. If that doesn’t work, a company can turn to anyone who hosts the site or controls the servers. If the post violates the host’s policies, the site may be removed.
If both the author and the host do not voluntarily remove the page, then most likely a company or its agent will dig deeper into:
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National or international laws
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Web Host Terms of Use and Policies
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ISP policies and terms of use
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Terms of Use for Search Engines
If a company can determine that a website is violating any of these terms of use, it can contact the appropriate authority (host, ISP, search engine, etc.) to remove the content. When all of this fails, a company remains to take legal action. There are some precedents for taking the motivations and intentions of the content creator into account in legal proceedings as well. A disgruntled employee might be motivated to post defamatory content in order to harm a company out of vindictiveness.
Legal action
Removing a webpage is not an easy task. It is associated with many legal proceedings and can cross international borders. The legal burden of proof in certain cases can be quite high or simply very different because the data is hosted in a different country. As mentioned above, the easiest and cheapest, but unfortunately not guaranteed, approach is to reach the webmaster of the page in question. Figuring out what they want can help a company get a better idea of what it takes to remove the page or data.
Usually, when there is information that is harmful but true, a company needs to look inward to find the problem and fix it. If there are numerous reviews mentioning terrible customer service, for example, and the company actually has terrible customer service, then the problem is not with defamatory content but with giving customers a reason to complain.
Related: 7 Ways To Recover From A Reputation Crisis
Protect the brand by removing harmful content
It is up to an organization to control the content online as it has a vested interest in protecting its brand. A brand is one of a company’s most valuable assets. If it is not protected, it can easily be tarnished or damaged beyond repair. Websites can be called up at any time and reach the first page of search engine results, which can lead to significant sales losses. Web site removal can be a long and tedious process – and in which case an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure – but there are still options for removing harmful, defamatory, or libelous content from the Internet.
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