How Do I Remove Negative Content About Me From the Internet?

The internet makes information instantly available through a web search — including information about you and your background. If someone posts negative content about you online, it can impact employment opportunities, college admissions, or your business, regardless of the information’s truth or falsity.

Unless something posted about you on the internet, including social media sites like LinkedIn or Yelp, is obscene, a threat, false, or considered online defamation, the First Amendment probably protects that post. Still, you have legal rights and can take action to minimize the impact of negative information. To understand your rights relating to getting negative internet content removed, contact an experienced lawyer in your state.

Identifying Negative Content

Despite its potential impact on your life, you may not even be aware of negative content about you on the internet. That is why it’s important to proactively manage your online presence. You should especially pay attention to exposure of private or sensitive information, negative reviews or comments, inaccurate or outdated information, and embarrassing content through the following strategies:

• Owning your online presence. Create a blog or social media profile that publishes positive information about yourself.
• Publishing positive content. Proactively share positive content about yourself on your own website to push any negative content down in your search results.
• Monitoring your reputation regularly. In addition to setting a Google Alert for your name, conduct self-searches regularly to catch any potential issues early.
• Reviewing your privacy settings. Make sure you optimize privacy settings to limit what information is publicly available, such as your phone number.

Strategies To Remove Negative Content

If you find out that negative or inaccurate information about you appears online — either through self-monitoring or another way — there are several strategies you can use:

• Contacting the website owner
• Flagging the content for a violation of the website’s terms of service
• Requesting a court order to remove the content
• Combatting negative content with positive content

Keep in mind that while the First Amendment broadly protects free speech, it doesn’t protect all speech — for example, true threats and defamatory speech are not protected.

Contacting Website Administrators

How to take down negative content depends on the type of content and who controls it. You’ll have to examine the website’s terms to determine the responsible party’s content removal policies. Conversations with publishers often center around removing content on forums, webpages, and other online content portals.

“If a person has an interest in taking something down off the internet, we are more than happy to help, and we are largely successful in doing so,” says Cleveland attorney Aaron Minc, who handles not only illegal content cases such as revenge porn and defamation but also cyberbullying and online reputation management and repair. In those cases, the attorneys at his firm go to the source, including the site owner or webmaster hosting the information and the person(s) who posted it. They may also engage in reputation management services on your behalf.

“Even if the content is true and is therefore not defamatory — or if the time period for requesting removal has passed — there is likely an amicable way to resolve the issue,” Minc says. Some social media platforms and websites require fees to take a post down. If it’s a blogger, most of the time, negotiation will do the trick. “But there are times that these negotiations turn from amicable talks to an adverse confrontation over privacy and the First Amendment.”

Minimizing the Impact of Negative Information

If the reasons for keeping content up outweigh the victim’s concerns, there can still be a satisfactory way to resolve the issue. “For example, removing the post from [Google search results], editing out unnecessary content that clouds the story, or taking down pictures which have no real necessity to the post,” says Minc.

Journalists, for example, have an ethical obligation to report the facts fully and correctly in news articles. This is especially true in criminal justice, where someone accused of a serious crime is deemed innocent. “Often, we will agree to have the story updated if it’s about an arrest, with the charges being dropped and the record of this individual cleared in a prominent location in the post,” says Minc. “As the facts of stories change, the posts about the stories must reflect these changes.” Journalists have an obligation to update false statements or outdated content.

Legal Options for Defamatory or Privacy-Violating Content

The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution protects people’s right to free speech. At the same time, U.S. law protects people from having their lives ruined by someone’s false statements. Defamation is a false statement communicated to other people that harms an individual’s reputation.

Defamatory Content

Defamation divides into libel and slander. Libel is a written statement, such as a news article, social media post, or billboard ad. Slander is a spoken statement made so that other people can hear.

Each state has its own body of defamation law; it is not uniform throughout the United States. An experienced defamation attorney in your state can explain the relevant burden of proof and defenses for a defamation issue.

Privacy-Violating Content

The world of online content and social media constantly changes, and the law has struggled to keep pace. Federal law touches on online privacy concerns, including the Communications Decency Act and the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) enforces laws that protect consumers’ online privacy. Some states, such as California, have taken legislative measures to protect social media privacy. Although there are some legal protections, you may find it more effective to proactively manage your online presence.

Using Online Reputation Management Services

If you find negative information about yourself online, make a removal request with the source posting the negative reviews or damaging content. If they deny the removal request and have a legal right to continue hosting the material, you can seek assistance from an online reputation management service. You can seek help from an online management services provider or contact an attorney for help. These are some of the best ways to take action and get the support you need to protect your reputation.

Getting Legal Help to Remove Online Content

No matter the type of content or the reasons for wanting something off a website or search engine, find a reputable and experienced attorney to guide you through the process.