The Complete Guide to Removing Damaging Content From the Internet

If you have ever been the victim of online defamation, harassment, or false accusations, you know how frustrating and stressful it can be to deal with the negative impact on your reputation, career, and personal life. You may feel helpless and hopeless as you watch your online image being tarnished by malicious posts, comments, reviews, or articles that are spreading like wildfire on the internet.

But don’t despair. There are legal and practical steps you can take to remove damaging content from the internet and restore your online reputation. In this guide, we will explain the different types of online content that can harm you, the laws and policies that protect you, and the strategies and tools that can help you remove unwanted content from the web.

Types of Damaging Content

Online content that can damage your reputation or cause you harm can be classified into four main categories:

• Defamation: This is when someone makes a false and harmful statement about you that damages your reputation. Defamation can be either libel (written) or slander (spoken). For example, if someone writes a blog post accusing you of being a fraud, a thief, or a criminal, that is defamation.
• Harassment: This is when someone repeatedly contacts you or posts about you in a way that causes you distress, fear, or annoyance. Harassment can be either cyberstalking (following or monitoring your online activities) or cyberbullying (insulting, threatening, or intimidating you online). For example, if someone sends you abusive messages, posts hateful comments on your social media profiles, or creates fake accounts to impersonate you, that is harassment.
• Privacy invasion: This is when someone discloses your personal or sensitive information online without your consent. Privacy invasion can be either doxing (publishing your name, address, phone number, email, etc.) or revenge porn (publishing your intimate photos or videos). For example, if someone posts your credit card details, medical records, or nude pictures on a website, that is privacy invasion.
• Intellectual property infringement: This is when someone uses your creative work online without your permission or attribution. Intellectual property infringement can be either plagiarism (copying your words or ideas) or piracy (downloading or sharing your music, videos, books, etc.). For example, if someone copies your blog post and publishes it on their own website without crediting you, that is intellectual property infringement.

Laws and Policies That Protect You

Depending on the type and severity of the damaging content, you may have legal recourse to remove it from the internet. There are two main sources of law that protect you from online harm: statutory law and common law.

• Statutory law: This is the law that is enacted by legislatures and codified in statutes. Statutory law covers specific areas of online activity and provides clear rules and remedies for violations. For example, there are federal laws in the US that prohibit identity theft (18 U.S.C. § 1028), cyberstalking (18 U.S.C. § 2261A), revenge porn (18 U.S.C. § 2257A), and copyright infringement (17 U.S.C. § 501).
• Common law: This is the law that is derived from judicial decisions and precedents. Common law covers general principles of law that apply to various situations and disputes. For example, there are common law doctrines in the US that protect you from defamation (libel and slander), privacy invasion (public disclosure of private facts), and breach of contract (failure to perform an agreement).

In addition to statutory law and common law, there are also policies and terms of service that govern the use of online platforms and websites. These are the rules and guidelines that you agree to follow when you sign up for an account or use a service online. These policies and terms of service may include provisions that prohibit posting or hosting damaging content on their platforms or websites. For example, most social media platforms have community standards that ban hate speech, harassment, nudity, violence, spam, etc.

Strategies and Tools to Remove Damaging Content

If you find damaging content about you on the internet, there are several strategies and tools you can use to remove it or reduce its visibility. Here are some of the most common and effective ones:

• Contact the source: The first step is to contact the person or entity who posted or published the damaging content and ask them to remove it voluntarily. This may be the easiest and quickest way to resolve the issue if they are cooperative and reasonable. You can try to explain why the content is false, harmful, or illegal and how it affects you negatively. You can also offer to provide evidence or proof to support your claim. You can contact them via email, phone, or social media, depending on the available contact information.
• Contact the platform: The second step is to contact the platform or website where the damaging content is hosted and request them to remove it or take it down. This may be the most effective way to remove the content if the source is unresponsive, anonymous, or hostile. You can try to report the content as violating the platform’s policies or terms of service and provide details and screenshots of the content. You can also invoke your legal rights and cite the relevant laws or precedents that apply to your case. You can contact them via their online reporting tools, customer support, or legal department, depending on the available options.
• Contact Google: The third step is to contact Google and ask them to remove the damaging content from their search results or cache. This may be the most helpful way to remove the content if the platform is unwilling, unable, or slow to remove it or take it down. You can try to request Google to de-index or de-cache the content as violating their policies or guidelines and provide links and descriptions of the content. You can also invoke your legal rights and cite the relevant laws or precedents that apply to your case. You can contact them via their online removal tools, webmaster tools, or legal removal requests, depending on the type of content.
• Contact a lawyer: The fourth step is to contact a lawyer and seek legal advice or representation. This may be the most necessary way to remove the content if the source, the platform, and Google are all uncooperative, inaccessible, or ineffective. You can try to consult a lawyer who specializes in online reputation management, internet law, or defamation law and discuss your options and remedies. You can also hire a lawyer to send a cease and desist letter, file a lawsuit, obtain a court order, or enforce a judgment against the source, the platform, or Google.

Conclusion

Removing damaging content from the internet can be a challenging and complex process that requires patience, persistence, and professionalism. However, by following this guide, you can learn about the different types of online content that can harm you, the laws and policies that protect you, and the strategies and tools that can help you remove unwanted content from the web. Remember that you are not alone in this fight and that you have rights and resources to defend yourself and your reputation online.

Get support

All information you provide will remain confidential in accordance with our laws and principles.

To make an appointment, you can reach us via the phone below during working hours or send an e-mail to the address below.

Weekdays: 09:00 – 21:00
Saturday: 10:00 – 22:00
E-mail: [email protected]