The
most powerful (and often only real way) of getting rid of bad reviews is via
the legal system however, it is a tough issue.
Attacks on a person's reputation on the Internet can
take many forms, which have (more or less) a harmful impact on the
object/company/person/entity thereof.
The most common cases of damage, to the reputation of a person on the
Internet, is done via abuse of freedom of expression This can be through libel,
slander, defamation, and violations of privacy and the rights of use of an
image.
Although rumors existed long before the arrival of the
Internet, they have found a powerful propagation vector (online) which can
prove to be a weapon of mass destruction of a reputation. In the real world a rumor will eventually die
out over time, however this is not the case on the Internet; on the contrary,
they can resurface at any time.
Before the advent of the Internet, the reputation of
any person was mainly expressed through the press. Everyone was more or less the master of
his/her image, which could be influenced by certain communication
strategies. Unlike the press, which must
ensure the veracity of the facts before publishing them, internet users can
create false information without interference. The influence of users on a
reputation can be truly destructive.
Like any freedom, the freedom of expression is subject
to limits:
Its exercise becomes a breach if the owner of this
freedom is intentionally damaging others with its use, in that its primary use
is for the purposes of defamation, insult or denigration.
To remove a bad review you may need to take up legal
action which will be based upon/taken for libel, slander or defamation.
Defamation is "an allegation of fact affecting the honor or reputation of a
person or a corporate body". It
must be about a specific person/company, refer to an aspect of their honor/reputation,
and must state a supposed fact, and intent.
Slander is an insult that is defined as "an offensive expression,
contemptuous term or invective, not containing the specific allegation of
fact". The injury is a crime when
it is public. This, for example, would
be if you were accusing a town official of being a thief because he is stealing
from the town treasury. The insult is of
being a thief, but then offers no facts to verify it. This example would turn into libel if the accuser gave
specific theft details (i.e. he took £30, Friday night, from safe number 3)
which turned out to be (or simply is) unfounded or based on little/no evidence.
The author of this post is a top marketing expert who can be found here - Circle Brandon in Google Plus Now
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