Handling libelous blog comments
Recently an individual posted a negative comment about a company being discussed in one of the blog posts I published on Blogstorm last year. The comment was not only negative but, in my personal view, libelous (assuming the allegations were untrue). The company in question contacted me to request removal and I deleted the comment, along with several others, within 24 hours.
The reason the comment was deleted was because the same person (identical email address and IP but posted under a different name) had written another negative comment in the same thread about a different company. Anybody writing negative comments about two competing companies and promoting a third company in the same thread while pretending to be two different people is, in my view, probably not a legitimate commenter.
The fact that all three companies involved as well as the person leaving the comments (according to the IP address) were in the UK makes this issue very real. If one of these companies decided to take legal action there is a good chance the matter would reach court.
Lessons to be learned
Think twice before you approve blog comments that contain allegations about a person or company. If those allegations are false do you want to be dragged into a court case? Sometimes it’s just easier to delete the comments. Is this ethically or morally the right thing to do? Maybe not but for small blogs it is certainly easier.
Don’t ever post comments under false names, it is very easy for people to find out. I have seen some threads where companies create 4 or 5 comments under false names with the same IP and even the same company email address just to artificially promote their own products. If a blogger exposes this then imagine the damage to that companies reputation.
As a blog commenter it is easy to think you have a certain level of anonymity. We see comments posted in place like Digg every day which clearly had less than 2 seconds thought before the submit button was clicked. If you write something defamatory about another company then you have to be prepared for the consequences.
Finally: don’t involve a blogger in your personal crusade against another company.
Patrick Altoft is Director of Search at Branded3, a Leeds SEO & Digital Agency specialising in SEO, Web Design, Development & Social Media.
Comments
Read the 7 comments below, or add your own!
Libel is a minefield. Even if you are in the right and what you are saying is patently true, you can still get hauled through the courts for making statements with which a company or individual takes umbrage. Even if you win, that’s a lot of heartache, and you could end up losing even if you’re in the right. The law, my friends, is an ass. (Is that libellous?)
db
I didn’t know that companies could request for comments to be deleted. That sounds strange to me somehow
Comments can request all they like! If you post something a company thinks is libellous, but it’s not defamatory because it’s true then as a publisher/editor/writer you are on strong ground. Thing is you may have to defend what you’ve said in court and how many bloggers are going to want to do that?
db
I think it is ridiculous for companies to be able to censor bad publicity. The average blogger certainly can’t avoid those “haters” that lurk the web looking for someone to pick on. This happens a lot it seems on sites like SU, where there can be such animosity and even in some cases death threats. A person of group can thumbs down something and start a virtual war,and it is not pretty. But freedom of speech covers them and only one case I know of a commentator had his account deleted for threats and such. Anyway I thought all publicity is good publicity? Thanks for a great article. Veronica
It is true!. I got to the idea that make no sense these kind of actions or revenges or whatever. But I can tell – of course I am not going to tell you the name of the company – that there is a seo company that have a special department just to do that!. Believe it or not. But when I think about them, I feel bad for them because they loose much effort on that, more than getting better seo results
I hate the posts which have 40 links to different viagra sites.
who’s stupid enough to waste time posting these?
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