Everyone is entitled to their freedom of speech, but when that freedom is abused and it comes at the cost of a business or reputation, it’s time to consult a defamation attorney.

It doesn’t take much more than one misplaced malicious review to begin a downward spiral for your business. A potential client reads that review before visiting your business and either decide not to bother based on the experience of another or they give you a chance but do so with a preconceived notion. This pre-existing characterization of your business is not something that they will forget or that you can erase and all it takes is the slightest misstep for that new customer to adopt it as their own. This customer then reports back online and before you know it, that one negative comment or review has become the opinion of hundreds of online users. Why? Because even if they didn’t give you their business, they will, undoubtedly, have an opinion on that first skewed comment or review.

It sounds extreme, doesn’t it? It might sound like a conspiracy theory, but the truth is that bad news gets press. When that bad news is online it gets more press and within moments, that initial bad review has spread like wildfire.

There is no doubt that your business is going to suffer and all at the hands of one malicious, false review.

Getting fake reviews removed from your business’s online profile may sound as easy as just reporting the incident to the forum where the review was placed, but it rarely is that simple.

These review websites pride themselves in giving the customer the freedom to review a business as they see fit and, in most instances, that wouldn’t be a problem. But when a false review of your business is posted among the fair reviews, it becomes next to impossible to get it removed because the author is being protected under their freedom of speech. Fortunately, in this type of situation, the law is on your side.

When someone purposefully defames your business with their online review, they are breaking the law and you have every right to pursue them for damages and to demand the removal of their defamatory review. With a reputable defamation attorney on your side, these review websites are made to see that what was posted about your business was, indeed, defamatory. They are prompted to remove the review from their site, and they can also be prompted to provide the IP information of the individual responsible. From there, your attorney can subpoena the internet service provider of that ISP and identify the individual responsible by name. This then opens up the opportunity for you to pursue them in court for defamation so that you can recover damages for the consequences of their actions.

It might sound complicated, but fortunately, all of the legwork is done by your defamation attorney. We will deal with contacting companies, we will take care of the legal paperwork, we will do everything we need to so that you can get back to your life as you know it.