Slander, libel, and defamation can emerge from unexpected sources.

There has been online defamation since the invention of Online media and the Internet. So, If you’re attacked, learn how to respond.

Imagine waking up in the morning with the uncontrolled ringing sound of your mobile phone, to hear that you’ve received new emails, updates on your social media pages, and feedback on your site.

Your greatest nightmare may have come true — a hostile client has written a fake review of your company that damages your online reputation.

Internet defamation has risen more frequently with the advent of social media platforms.

So what is online defamation?

How do businesses tackle misleading and harmful comments made online, and how do you respond to these malicious statements?

Online Defamation  

Defamation is legally classified as a false assertion that is intended to harm a company’s credibility or person.

Libel and slander are the subtypes of defamation.

In order to get a claim of defamation, you must show that the argument is not valid and that it has affected you or your company in particular. It may also be distributed by a third party, such as a blog or a website.

You’ll have to prove that the business has sustained a substantial loss as a result of the statement. It is one of the most challenging things to show in court.

You can not take disciplinary action against someone who is merely speaking the truth. When anyone pulls up your grim history and puts it online, you can’t prosecute them. That fact may be hurting, but you can’t do anything in that case.

 Libel vs. Slander  

Libel and slander are subsections of defamation. They both include comments that damage your reputation or the image of your company.

Slanders

Slander is the practice of orally voicing an untrue assertion to another person. It can ruin the credibility of another human. You will usually find online defamation in a film, podcast, or audio file.

Libel’s

On the other hand, libel is the process of writing a harmful and inaccurate argument related to another person. Web pages, blogs, online forums, articles, and review pages are all areas where libel can be found online.

Take steps against online defamation.

You can sue against a person a defamation lawsuit, but the trial’s outcome relies on how far the false assertion has gone wrong.

Freedom of expression or of the press makes it tougher to sue with a lawsuit for defamation.

Freedom of Expression or Defamation of Character?

The Communications Decency Act can be another hurdle that may prevent you from winning a defamation lawsuit. This Act forbids you from prosecuting an Internet Service Provider (ISP) for defamation. The ISPs are supposed to serve as producers, not as publishers.

All that said, a complaint may not be the only response to defamation.

There are other ways to mitigate harm to the reputation of your company:

Somebody may have damaged your business with a defaming comment in a review. In this situation, the best choice is to leave it alone, and try to get removed.

Audiences are wise enough to evaluate the positives against evil. Typically, they will just laugh off a blatantly exaggerated comment. The simple truth is if there are several favorable reviews, they will outweigh the unfavorable ones.

However, the safest decision is not necessarily to disregard this sort of argument. Any misleading statements can put the company’s reputation at risk. When anyone openly claims your wrongdoing business, you need to do more than merely ignore the information.

Get Rid of That

There are several sites where you can flag the false statement of the individual and probably delete it.

Next, try to report to the magistrate. Specific web domain registrations have laws that forbid sites from making money by publishing defaming statements.

You may also try reporting them to their hosting service. You could be fortunate if the platform does not agree with the hosting company’s terms and conditions.

If a message has been made on social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter, you can directly flag the user. Conversely, social media networks don’t even care about defamation – they worry about label use. Users who make derogatory remarks may use your registered trademark label as their profile name, and then they may spoil your or your business name by using this method.

Reporting the individual to Google is another choice if it breaks Google’s SEO rules and regulations. Websites who abuse Google Adsense advertisements or use SEO “black hat” tactics can be blocked, and their ad revenues may be taken away.

You may also go directly to the network operator. If the libel statement challenges the copyright or patent rules, then you’ll have a better shot at getting the claim removed. As a part of the Correspondence Decency Act, it is not confirmed that the comment will be deleted.

The only downside of deleting the claim is that the individual may decide to submit the very same assertion on a different website and harm you from there.

Fighting Back

If you could not succeed to delete the incriminating sentence, so you’ll have to revert to rebuttal. Your refutation should be short and concise. Stop bickering with other consumers, for this will overshadow your image even more.

Sometimes, rebuttals can make matters worse. It might appear like there is some legitimacy in the argument, which could draw more scrutiny and exposure to the business. You have to balance the pros against the dangers involved with rebutting instead of ignoring and taking no action at all. And then should respond according to the severity of the situation.

Take Legal action:  

Lawyers who are experts and specialize in defamation would be able to identify the next move that can benefit you the most. If the customer argument is incorrect and strong evidence of harm to your reputation, you would have a higher chance of achieving a lawsuit.

Make sure you’ve got track of all the defamatory comments they have made about your company. Take snapshots of blogs, tweets, SERP results, or other exculpatory pages and print them or take screenshots. You should also maintain all the record and documentation that shows the identity of the individual. This may be the best response to an online slander and Libel claim.

Bottom Line:

Encountering online defamation can be depressing for almost everyone but especially for busy companies and individuals who know nothing about how to respond to those online defamatory claims— complex laws and rules make it more complicated. If you are in such a situation, contact us to see how we can help you. Contact us on 0800 088 5506