Deletion of Negative Online Content

These arguments are strong ones, and they are can be difficult to argue against in certain cases.

Should the name of a serious offender be published online? In most cases the answer has to be yes, but there is no agreement on what “serious” means, nor for how long a “serious” allegation must remain online.

A news article often won’t publish the full facts of a case, the mitigation and true circumstances of an incident, are often not detailed. Each case is always nuanced and there will be many factors that either make a case more or less serious.

Allegations of assault which are often published on local news sites can vary in so many ways that it is impossible to say that all cases merit the same treatment. A minor sibling physical altercation cannot be compared to an allegation of domestic violence where coercive control is a dominant feature.

How do I clean up my online reputation?

So what can be done if there is negative online content about you and can negative online content be removed? 

In the case where you know who is posting the content, namely it an online news outlet, then the first option is to get the negative information taken down directly from the website(s). If you can get the content taken down from the website, then this is the best option, as it will completely remove the online article from the internet, and so will not appear in Google’s, or other search engines index.

You may have already tried this yourself and found that the editor is unwilling to remove the website’s content, or they simply ignore you.

If you are unable to get the negative online content taken down, then the next best option is to approach Google (and other search engines) and ask for the content to be deindexed from their search index.

Deindexing will mean that the negative content will remain on the originating website, but it will not appear in Google’s EU/UK index (although may remain in the US versions of their index).

This will typically mean that when a search is run against your name, the offending online article, or articles, will no longer appear in the search index, meaning that when a prospective employer Google’s your name, the negative online content will not show up.

Online Removal Experts

If there is negative online content about you, we can help.

We will approach the editors of the online publication that is publishing your name to persuade them to take down the negative online content.

Often this can require subtle handling and a mixture of presenting your mitigation in a sympathetic light and/or a more robust presentation of your right to privacy. Sometimes it may be necessary to take your case to appeal before the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO).

Malicious Online Content

If the content that has been posted about you online is malicious, and forms part of a campaign of harassment against you, then we can also help.

It may be the case that the situation needs to be reported to the police, and we can help you in approaching the police and setting out your statement. 

Often malicious online content is done by an anonymous user and it can be difficult to identify who this is.

If you cannot identify the person it will be a matter of tracking down the user by approaching the site concerned, and trying to find the contact details and/or the IP address of the person who posted the content.

If the site won’t provide the information, then you would need to issue court proceedings to obtain an order forcing the website to give up the information. If the malicious poster has been using a VPN (Virtual Private Network) or other methods to obscure their details, then even with a court order it may be difficult to track down the perpetrator.

Deletion of Negative Online Content

If there is negative online content about you, or your business, and it is impacting your life and/or your financial situation, then please get in touch.

We are dedicated to helping people protect their reputations both online, and via the criminal records disclosure regime and records deletion process.

All cases are managed by an expert solicitor with significant knowledge and experience of applying for the removal of negative online content.

We charge reasonable fixed fees and will give you an honest and impartial opinion on your prospects of having negative content removed, and your online reputation cleared up.