Yes, there are legitimate free speech issues that sometimes come into play, as well as the previously mentioned fraud against the courts, but the little guys with far fewer resources are the victims of outsiders who need lawyers in this case. US laws that allow many websites to distribute content without liability to remove defamation – particularly Section 230 of the Shadow Making Communications Decency Act – have created a situation in which many people and businesses are harmed, without recourse. Prior to the growth of the Internet, there were reasonable means of obtaining legal redress, which do not appear to have been preserved in the virtual space. In the past, Google's Shadow Making policy of acting on defamation removals has been something of a relief valve, but now that it's unreliable, it can create a wave of support to push legislative or judicial adjustment. What should victims do now.
As you can see from the descriptions of some cases described above, your case may be very compelling, and it may be backed up by a clean and valid legal process with clear evidence, but all of that may not be enough to guarantee that Google will. remove links to defamatory content. If Google has already denied you in recent months, you can continue to periodically Shadow Making ask Google to reconsider and try to provide any material it can to demonstrate that you have followed proper processes and have established that harmful material should not be Shadow Making allowed to stay. If you have not yet been sued for a court order for defamatory content, you should realize that your chances of success may be limited at this time if the content is posted on a site that will stubbornly refuse to delete it.
If you deal with ISPs and websites that are not protected by Section 230, or are directly responsible for the content, you may be able to have the content removed Shadow Making at source and ask Google to update its crawling and remove non-existing URLs from the search. It is clear that this situation is still evolving. Victims of defamation can still obtain redress through the court process, and it may be worth starting now to obtain a court order, as litigation often takes months to reach the end line and there are limitation periods. Consult with your attorney to Shadow Making determine the relative merits and potential for success in your particular case. As this situation evolves, perhaps things will stabilize again, one way or another. Until then, just realize you're rolling the dice if you advance with a costume. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the guest author and not necessarily of Search Engine Land. Staff authors are listed here.