An emerging new breed of firms seem to specialise in creating bad content about people and businesses online and then charging to help the problem disappear.
If you are worried about dodgy office party photos or other misdemeanours appearing in Google search results for your name, you can hire an online reputation management company to try and remove the evidence.
But reputation management often looks a lot like an old fashioned mafia protection racket.
Old school bad guys
In the old days, you’d get a knock on the door and some friendly if rather large gentlemen would come in and suggest you might want to pay some insurance money to keep bad elements away from your home or business.
In the old days, you’d get a knock on the door and some friendly if rather large gentlemen would come in and suggest you might want to pay some insurance money to keep bad elements away from your home or business.
Digital bad guys
Today, you’re likely to get an email from a reputation management firm, informing you that your good name is currently being attacked on a consumer complaints website which ranks highly in Google. “Would you like to get this removed? That’ll just be a few thousand dollars up front, and maybe a few hundred a month forever”. What’s more suspicious – the reputation management firm is affiliated to the site hosting the offensive content.
Today, you’re likely to get an email from a reputation management firm, informing you that your good name is currently being attacked on a consumer complaints website which ranks highly in Google. “Would you like to get this removed? That’ll just be a few thousand dollars up front, and maybe a few hundred a month forever”. What’s more suspicious – the reputation management firm is affiliated to the site hosting the offensive content.
Sounds ridiculous? This is the scenario described by a large number of people aggrieved with the consumer complaint website “Rip Off Report”.
Rip Off Report are a fairly typical Web 2.0 company, hosting comments from members of the public. However, in an untypical fashion, many business owners and individuals find themselves facing hateful, bile-filled comments in the user section, which many feel amounts to slander. And as Rip Off Report use some quite aggressive search engine optimisation (SEO) techniques, these damaging comments appear prominently in Google.
The law protects publishers such as Rip off Report so that charges of defamation won’t stick. Under US law (Communications Decency Act Section 230), publishers are not responsible for the comments posted by users on their sites. Hosting allegedly libellous content is not a crime.
To have content removed, plaintiffs need to obtain a court order to force a publisher to hand over web logs, so that they can identify the person who first posted the content. Then they need to successfully prosecute the individual for defamation, and obtain a second court order ordering the take down of the libellous content by the publisher.
Even after all this, the plaintiff may find that the libellous content has spread, being repeated on other sites. At this point things get even worse from a legal perspective. Thanks to another recent interpretation of Section 230 (Barrett Vs Rosenthal), the re-publication of data online is all but immune from prosecution, unless it breaches intellectual copyright or federal law.
Rip Off Report’s track record in court makes it pretty clear that their actions don’t break the letter of the law. So if the law can’t help, what can people do?
There are really only 3 options.
#1 Hire the guys who made the problem to solve it
Rip Off Report offer conciliation services, for a fee. These offer to help broker a peace between the member of the public who posted a comment on the site and the aggrieved party. For a greater fee, there is a “corporate advisory programme” which offers to help turn the whole episode into a positive (somehow).
Rip Off Report offer conciliation services, for a fee. These offer to help broker a peace between the member of the public who posted a comment on the site and the aggrieved party. For a greater fee, there is a “corporate advisory programme” which offers to help turn the whole episode into a positive (somehow).
If the idea of paying Rip Off Report to make the problem they facilitate go away leaves a bitter taste in the mouth, there are other options.
#2 Try to talk down your critics
Sites such as Rip Off Report grant a (limited) right to reply on site. This isn’t always a great idea. Your reaction can start a dialogue, attracting other people to post. As more people post to a thread, it’s more likely to rank prominently in a search engine, starting a horrible doom loop.
Sites such as Rip Off Report grant a (limited) right to reply on site. This isn’t always a great idea. Your reaction can start a dialogue, attracting other people to post. As more people post to a thread, it’s more likely to rank prominently in a search engine, starting a horrible doom loop.
#3 Hire an online reputation management or search optimisation firm to help
Professionals like probably suggest the best way to get the negative comments off the front page of Google is to create lots more positive content about you or your brand and push this to the top of the rankings instead. For a fee, expect them to create biographies, YouTube videos, blogs and microsites aimed to take over the search term you care about. Success is hit-or-miss: No one can guarantee getting to the top of Google.
Professionals like probably suggest the best way to get the negative comments off the front page of Google is to create lots more positive content about you or your brand and push this to the top of the rankings instead. For a fee, expect them to create biographies, YouTube videos, blogs and microsites aimed to take over the search term you care about. Success is hit-or-miss: No one can guarantee getting to the top of Google.
A note of caution: there appear to be business connections between several online reputation management firms and sites such as Rip Off Report. If you go to an independent-looking firm, check over their website for tell-tale signs that they may be cosy with the opposition (Hosting Hyperlinks to RipOffReport.com are a dead giveaway).
The industry isn’t all bad
Rip Off Report’s business model might not be illegal, but it certainly leaves people with a bad taste in their mouths. In defence of the reputation management industry, it should be noted that most firms offer much simpler services are not engaged in playing both gamekeeper and poacher.
Rip Off Report’s business model might not be illegal, but it certainly leaves people with a bad taste in their mouths. In defence of the reputation management industry, it should be noted that most firms offer much simpler services are not engaged in playing both gamekeeper and poacher.
Finally: What goes around, comes around
For a slight sense of justice and some more perspective, you can read some of the (potentially libellous) allegations made against Rip Off Report directly on another, competing complaints website – ComplaintsBoard.com.
Matt Hunter
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