Overall, the online space is a boon to all businesses. Through digital platforms, small businesses can become heavyweights, and medium-sized organizations can become titans of the industry. As for larger corporations–the sky’s the limit.
The online space has given your organization unmitigated agility. You can transform a shoestring budget into a virtual campaign that generates ten figures in revenue or more. A YouTube video or a Twitter post can be like rocket fuel for your company. A blog can be lightning in a bottle.
You can reach more people through online platforms. You can grow your audience and gain exposure at otherwise inconceivable rates.
A broader reach for an organization is all ownership, leadership, and executives can ask for.
Even the best ideas evaporate on the ground floor without a way to spread the word. The internet makes mass communication possible. There’s no need to pour obscene amounts of resources into word-of-mouth campaigns. Instead, brand expansion is always at your fingertips at a cost that won’t break your budget.
Here ends the glass-half-full portion of our landing page.
When Increased Brand Exposure Goes Wrong.
Now we’ll address some of the more concerning realities the internet presents.
After all, our society seems to function through a series of checks and balances. What comes up must go down. Where there are pros, there must be cons.
The internet’s game-changing value is undeniable. Businesses cannot thrive without it in 2023 without being online. It’s that exact notion that leaves all businesses vulnerable to online threats.
A major risk that comes to mind is cybercrime. Hackers, phishers, and all other digitally-inclined scammers want access to your systems and sensitive data.
Thus, you equip your systems, networks, and data with robust technological protections. Effective cybersecurity will repel cybercriminals while protecting your company’s (and customers’) data.
Hackers and phishers aren’t your only online threats, though. No–a malicious actor doesn’t need to trick one of your employees with a phishing email or crack your network password to cause havoc.
Scarily, all these bad actors must do is use the word-of-mouth-power of the internet to bolster their cruel intentions instead of for anything of value or merit. More specifically, the internet offers poorly intentioned folks a tool to defame your organization.
The power of the pen has been replaced by the stroke of a keyboard. All it takes is a few serif-inscribed words to send your company’s reputation into a tailspin.
This type of situation often arises because businesses–in a sense–become victims of their own success. You’ve been building an empire, gaining brand exposure, and getting noticed by a vastly growing audience–powered by the world wide web.
You can’t account for the moral and ethical standards of every person encountering your brand. Nor can you predict each individual customer’s (or prospect’s) temperament.
As your online presence grows, you become a bigger target for liars, extorters, harassers, etc.
Unfortunately, no cybersecurity software protects you from these bad actors. So, where can you turn when your company encounters damaging online defamation?
Hire An Online Defamation Lawyer To Neutralize The Following Threats:
Who are the type of people who’ll try to harass or extort your business through online defamation? What kind of individual would leave a fraudulent review?
Let’s explore the answers to these questions in the following bullet points:
- Extorters are people who are fueled by greed and are happy to sink their fangs into ill-gotten gains. These individuals are relatively cut and dry–they’ll publish harmful content about your business and will remove it at a price. An extorter can potentially be an ex-employee with an ax to grind. However, they’re often random bad actors looking for a payoff.
- Harassers can often be online trolls with something of an anarchy streak. They don’t really care much about receiving any return (although they might be open to it). They just want to hurt your company in whatever way they can–in this instance, it’s through continued defamation. A harasser could be an ex-employee. It could also be a rival company trying to needle, prod, and damage your reputation. Alternatively, someone could harass your business for their own entertainment–because they’re an online troll without much of a moral compass.
- Fraudulent reviewers can be disgruntled customers who want to hurt your business, ex-employees, or rivals. A rival organization could also use shady tactics to harm your brand. They use your review platforms (e.g., Yelp, Google Reviews, and Facebook) to spread negativity about your organization. There’s often overlap with fraudulent reviewers, extorters, and harassers. People could leave fraudulent reviews for personal gain. However, in the case of disgruntled customers, they might have misinterpreted a series of events.
- An online content creator (e.g., a journalist or influencer) could defame your business to bolster their profile. They could write an article or post a video slandering/libeling your products and services for clicks and notoriety. Influencers creating defamatory content have grown in prevalence in recent years as the profession has increased in prominence.
The Inherent Issues With Online Defamation.
No business can satisfy everybody’s needs, including your customers and employees. You can only put your best foot forward and treat everyone with respect. Beyond that, everything is out of your hands. This is what makes online defamation so nefarious.
A company can do everything right. They can be upstanding leaders in the community. They can be philanthropic and treat their employees and customers like royalty.
Nonetheless, it only takes one instance of defamation to sully your reputation. It doesn’t matter that it’s false. It matters even less that most of your customers won’t believe the defamatory content.
Your organization plainly being linked with such an incident is damaging. It’s almost like you’re guilty by association.
There’s a reason why companies are so specific about their positioning. For instance, you probably won’t see an advertisement for baby wipes playing during an episode of Cops. The optics aren’t good. It’s the same case for a company dealing with online defamation.
Even when people know a review is false, there’s now an air of negativity associated with your organization. You can recover, but it takes work and financial capital.
Hiring an online defamation lawyer–in and of itself–is an injustice. You shouldn’t have to because you’ve done nothing wrong. It’s an imposition. You’ve been put in an unenviable spot by a malignant force.
Thus, you must fight back. You’ve worked too hard to build your reputation for the weaponized online words of someone to damage your reputation. You’re owed just compensation for the emotional damages caused, extra work incurred, and the financial consequences you’ve faced.
What’s the best way to fight back against online defamation (if you’re in Long Island or New York State)? Hiring the top online defamation lawyer you can find at Bellavia Blatt.
Fight Fire With Fire: Hire An Online Defamation Lawyer You Can Trust.
Those who think that words don’t hurt have clearly never been defamed. Words wield power and can cause damage when their power is wielded recklessly.
Of course, ideally, the damage of defamation can be mitigated before things need to go to court. Sometimes you’d be surprised that a situation could be a misunderstanding instead of actual defamation. Reason can win the day; retractions can be made after a stern conversation.
Similarly, review platforms can even remove fraudulent reviews if you flag them. If you act fast, you can entirely neutralize all potential damage.
These are your first lines of defense. You hire your online defamation lawyer when reason fails–and it fails all too often.
Defamers will dig their heels in to get what they want, thinking they’re untouchable. Review sites won’t always respond to requests to have fraudulent feedback removed.
Also, the damage could have already been done even if you convince someone to remove or retract defamatory content. In this instance, you deserve to be compensated.
At Bellavia Blatt, we are experts in business and corporate law. We’ve mastered all the intricacies of online defamation laws. Our credentials are second-to-none, and we have limitless respect for our clients and everything they’ve worked for.
Most valuable, though, is that we are fierce litigators. We are committed to getting our clients results in the courtroom and will explore every legal avenue to help them win their cases. We’ll dismantle defenses and mount an unyielding offense. More to the point, the exceptional team at Bellavia Blatt is an online defamer’s worst nightmare.
A case to us isn’t merely “just another” case. We’re representing your organization on a legal battlefield, and we will do so with honor, integrity, and an intense commitment to winning–that much you can count on.
Keep Your Defamers Accountable: Hire An Online Defamation Lawyer From Bellavia Blatt Today!
First, we wish to extend our compassion and support if your business has been defamed online. No company should have to go through what your organization is going through.
Second, we want to give you a way to contact us so you can fight back. It’s time to regain your reputation and hold your online defamers accountable. Call Bellavia Blatt today at (516) 873-3000.