Is it possible to remove defamatory web pages from Google?

Interesting data was recently released by Google concerning the removal of offending web content from the products it owns.

The data is focused on government requests to Google to remove content. It is not clear if the information that Google has published includes court orders in civil matters, where the court, in effect, acts as a government agency.

 I have been defamed on the internet. What can I do about this?

The ability to list web pages on the top page of the search results for a long period of time is normally a function of either excellent workmanship or an unintended  random consequence of Google algorithm. Names of individuals and companies are easy targets for the purpose of internet defamation or even just to cause someone reputational, emotional or financial damage. 

In our younger days, some of us did things we later came to regret. We wronged people or made them upset. Guilty as charged. We can't turn back the wheels of time, however and usually we mature and move on to better and greater things.

But what if, out of the blue, an indiscretion from 10, 20, or 30 years ago suddenly resurfaces, wreaking havoc on our family life, our business, our achievements, our good name? It resurfaces because someone causes it to, in order to destroy everything we have worked for.

On 12 October 2014, Google reported to have rejected more than two thirds of all the ‘right to be forgotten’ applications they received from UK applicants. By contrast, Cohen Davis has obtained nearly 92% success rate with its right to be forgotten applications to Google and the ICO.

Google’s decision to comply with any such applications is of course at their discretion (albeit in accordance with the landmark court ruling made in Google Spain SL & Google Inc v Agencia Española de Protección de Datos (AEPD) & Costeja González (“Google Spain”) in May 2014) and there are currently no hard and fast rules which might serve to predict an applicant’s chances of success. Indeed, when comparing some successful applications against those which Google rejected, it becomes quite apparent that (at least on the face of it) even Google does not appear to maintain a consistent approach in how it deals with

An important ruling by the Court of Justice of the EU might mean that you and your children could ‎have a right to have information deleted from the internet.

The ruling came after Mario Costeja Gonzalez, a Spanish man, complained that a search of ‎his name in Google brought up newspaper articles from 16 years ago about a sale of property ‎to recover money he owed.

If you already made an application to Google under the right to be forgotten and your application was declined, you have a right to appeal to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), the regulator responsible for data protection in the United Kingdom, which has the power to overturn Google’s decisions.

"For most people the application to the ICO under the right to be forgotten is likely to be the very last opportunity ever to have information removed from Google searches and from the internet."

Adverse results from search engines can often have severe consequences, sometimes affecting you as an individual, sometimes affecting your family and at other times affecting your business. This will seem particularly unfair where the information presented by the search engine against your name or the name of your business is untrue, deceptive or very old.

How SEO is used to spread defamation

Everyone has a soft spot. Being called a certain bad name in public could cause you a lot of damage and harm your career.

For example, a doctor might be described as "negligent", a solicitor as "incompetent", a builder as a "cowboy", or a teacher as "stupid". Such labels would be regarded by any of these people as a personal attack on their reputation and integrity.

But perhaps the most harmful insult of all was suffered by a top civil servant who was a social worker for the Children’s Service at a district council in the north of the country.