Questions about defamatory online reviews

Many people genuinely believe and even insist that review websites are there to enhance consumer’s ability to make the right choice or to educate them in choosing; a reputable supplier, a builder, an estate agent or even a holiday provider - and they are dead wrong. The truth is that the vast majority of those who operate review websites have clever systems that are aimed at benefitting them financially by encouraging visitors to their website to write negative reviews. This is often achieved by attacking and consequently destroying the reputation of good, honest and well established businesses across the UK.

Defamation by investors - defamation against a company

In a case that is believed to be the first of its kind in the UK concerning online defamation by investors against a company, online defamation and social media specialist solicitor firm Cohen Davis won damages for its PLC client, a gold mining company Red Rock Resources (RRR) after the company was defamed on social media by one of its small yet vocal investors.

How to respond to defamation on a review website.

Whether you are the victim of corporate defamation or of individual defamation, before responding to a bad review or to online defamation read this!

Don't rush it.

If you are considering writing a response to the defamatory article or to the negative review, then don't rush it.

Defamation by an ex-employee. What can I do about it?

It is not uncommon for disgruntled former employees to go on a campaign of defamation against their former employer’s company.

The defamation normally occurs through blogs, emails and by initiation of discussion groups in forums aimed at throwing as much dirt as possible at the former employee's company.

Meet Gary. Gary was a small investor in listed public companies who held shares in a gold mining company RRR PLC. As an active investor, Gary used to be involved in online investment forums such as Interactive Investors.

How to Prevent Becoming a Victim of Defamation by Former Employees and Partners?

How to describe that first shocking moment when you discover that the reputation of your business is being tarnished all over the internet? There’s really nothing else like it, and it is followed by sleepless nights and constant worry. For some business people whose reputation is attacked online, things will never be the same again.

Just imagine: As you lie awake wishing the problem would go away, instead, it is spreading throughout the internet. Within weeks, sometimes even days, there is more defamatory material every time you look.

Our client was employed as a manager by a company in the financial services industry. An article in a national newspaper (also published online) revealed some of the practices employed by that company and effectively had made our client a scapegoat to the company’s alleged wrongdoing.

When news broke out about the company’s alleged practices, it allowed our client to become a scapegoat and did nothing to try and defend its practices or our client’s position as an employee

You deserve to have a real social media lawyer, an expert who is highly qualified but who is also highly experienced, internet and SEO savvy and who is commercially aware.

If you feel that your matter requires a solicitor who specialises in internet defamation and who can offer you far more than a limited legal view of your situation, and who can guide you through all the various options which are available to you, then you should seriously consider getting in touch with us.

There is a very good chance that we have already solved similar issues to yours which means we will be able to take you directly to where you want to be and along the way save you a great deal of time and money.

Our internet lawyers have a proven track record of success in facilitating the removal of hundreds of defamatory web

Your employees are the people who are most likely to take a confrontational approach on the internet against your company.

Disgruntled employees are responsible for much of the defamatory and unauthorised dissemination of information about a company and its practices.

Many business owners ask, What is the difference between "marketing" and "online reputation management"?

The common use of these two terms is rather confusing. In reality they refer to totally different things.

"Marketing" is commonly defined as the act of creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers.

"Reputation management" on the other hand is defined as the building, maintenance, and recovery of the organisation’s desirable image.

How effective should a defamation cease and desist letter be when your aim is to have online defamation removed from a web page, a blog or a forum?

It is possible to ease the pain caused by online defamation through principles of tactical transparency. There are numerous examples of organisations that for a period of time suffered sustained attacks on their reputation but nevertheless managed to come out at the end of the dark tunnel cleaner, stronger and loved by their customers.

Company directors often prefer to remove damaging webpages from public sight by using a discrete method to push the derogatory webpages down in the search results of Google.

This method often results in satisfactory resolution of many of the issues that negative webpages may bring on a company generally and on its sales team in particular.

Every organisation needs to carry out reputation risk analysis on a regular basis.

But at times of online reputation crisis, risk analysis is even more crucial than ever and needs to sit at the heart of the reputation recovery strategy. A reputation recovery strategy that encapsulates continuing reputation risk analysis will typically follow these steps:

During a crisis you may receive conflicting advice as to the most appropriate response. It is vital to carry out a risk assessment in relation to each choice of action or inaction, bearing in mind that action taken on the internet can often be irreversible.

Broadly speaking, there are three core solutions to reputation issues that arise out of internet publications:

Solution 1: Using legal provisions and tools to remove damaging webpages: Consider any short and long term implications on the organisation's reputation. How would legal action impact your organisation's marketing strategies?

Solution 2: The use of various Search Engine Optimisation tools/techniques to remove unwanted internet pages from public view: Consider what sort of material should be posted on the internet to "push down" bad, negative results.

The most significant concern for company executives today is over reputational risk. Many feel that they have increasingly less control over public perception particularly due to the growing power of social media. Understanding why, how and when social media becomes a decisive factor in consumers’ purchasing decision helps company executives better identify and manage reputational risks to the brand or product or to them personally.

We provide various courses and presentations dedicated to company executives in different sectors. How much does a company director need to know about social media and internet law? The answer is ‘as much as possible’.

This is why many executive directors make it their business to investigate, learn and understand social media and internet law. Good understanding will help you approach the challenges the internet presents from a