When your business is the target of online business slander, it’s important that you go on the attack right away and stand up for your livelihood. A failure to put a stop to slanderous actions right away will not only put you at risk of losing more business, but it will also make it much harder to control the distribution of slanderous content.
Business Slander: How Can Online Business Slander Harm Your Business?
Many small business owners and large business owners alike fail to realize how important it is to take care of defamation as soon as it happens. It’s not uncommon for them to believe that if they “leave things alone” then everything will resolve itself in time. Unfortunately, this isn’t necessarily the case, particularly when that defamatory content is published online. Why is online content so dangerous? Because it never actually goes away. Even when a video is deleted offline, there is no way to delete the video from the websites that have uploaded the video to their own websites and shared it online. There is also no way to delete that video from the computers of everyone else who downloaded it before it was taken offline. This in and of itself causes a problem because when people know that content has been taken offline for whatever reason, they falsely believe that it is the right of everyone to have access to that content and so they tend to re-upload and share that video again. As you can see, getting rid of slanderous content is incredibly difficult and the longer you wait to act, the more difficult it is to control the distribution of content.
How Can an Attorney Help if Content is Spread So Quickly Online?
It’s true that it’s incredibly difficult to delete all traces of slanderous content online, but when you weigh your options for possible action, hiring an attorney is the only logical answer.
You Could Ignore Online Business Slander But…
One option is to ignore online slander of your business and hope that it goes away. We mentioned this above and why it’s a terrible idea – you are allowing the proliferation of content and giving the impression that it’s acceptable to slander your business. This will also serve to open the door to more defamation from other sources.
The bottom line here is that online slander isn’t going away and the longer you wait to act, the more difficult it’s going to be to remedy the situation!
You Could Attempt to Manage Online Business Slander Yourself…
A second option is to attempt to manage online business slander yourself without engaging the services of an attorney. This can become quite a difficult situation, however, because of your personal involvement with your business. It’s easy to lose your head and approach issues in a less than appropriate manner. It’s important as a business owner that you don’t allow this to happen which is why it’s generally best to employ the services of a defamation attorney.
A defamation attorney is familiar with the law as well as the legal ramifications of improperly handling cases of slander. Your attorney can properly manage and put a stop to defamation legally so there are no ramifications of improper actions on your part.
Is Online Business Slander Really Something to Worry About?
Some business owners don’t believe that online business slander is anything to worry about at all. Even if content is spread all over the net, their belief is that everyone has their own opinion and that’s just that.
In short, this type of thinking is naive.
Yes, everyone has an opinion, but when that “opinion” is slander, it’s not “fine” to leave things as they are. We live in a viral nation, a generation of drama-fiends, and when one slanderous “opinion” is publicized, it quickly garners attention and spreads like wildfire.
But it’s “just an opinion,” right?
The problem with online content is that there is rarely any clarification that content is “just an opinion” and if that content is presented as fact, readers and watchers of that content have no reason to think otherwise.
So, the content continues to spread, readers and watchers of that content continue to believe it to be fact, and when the time comes to dine in your restaurant, shop in your store, invest in your services, etc. they are going to recall this “fact” and opt for your competitor’s business instead.
Will your loyal clients continue to frequent your business? Very possibly, but the average business simply cannot survive without growth.
Can Your Business Afford a Defamation Attorney?
Your business cannot afford not to hire a defamation attorney. In the long run, the expense of hiring an attorney is minimal in comparison to the amount of money your business will lose as a result of unaddressed defamation.
Are You Dealing with Business Slander?
If you’re dealing with business slander and are located in or around St. Petersburg, Florida, Weidner Law can help. Just pick up the phone and dial 727-954-8752 to make an appointment for your consultation today!
