Removing Defamation from ComplaintsBoard and RipOffReport

ComplaintsBoard.com and RipOffReport.com are two service providers that offer a forum for unhappy customers to post about poor experiences they have with companies. The posts can range from customer service complaints, to overpricing issues, to quality concerns, and so on. The companies’ terms of service and terms of use pages remove any possible liability for defamation and other tort claims against the company, relying on Section 230 of the CDA and case law interpreting this section for their protection.

Unfortunately in a lot of cases, these providers and others like them are right. Legally, there is very little that can be done to have defamatory posts removed, and there is an ever growing amount of case law to prove it. You can contact the service provider and formally request the post be removed. The service provider then has the right to decide whether or not they will oblige your request to take the post down.

You are likely to have more success if you instead go after the individual poster or user directly. You can request the individual remove or redact the post. If this does not work, you can make a defamation claim against the specific user, instead of going after the service provider.

If the terms of use for the service provider eliminate potential liability by discussing Section 230, but also attempt to prevent posting of defamatory and other inappropriate comments, the provider has often done what is required to protect themselves from future tort claims.

However, these service providers, depending on the jurisdiction, are not always given absolute immunity. In Washington for example, the Supreme Court held that if the plaintiff could prove the terms of use for Backpage.com were designed to assist in sex trafficking of minors, than the company would be liable and the protection offered by Section 230 would not be provided.

As a result of this mixed case law, there is no one standard option available for removing defamatory posts. Instead, you are left with a handful of options:

  1. Contact the service provider and request they take the post down
  2. If the service provider refuses, consider the terms of use for the service provider and what the case law for your jurisdiction suggests (absolute immunity or not)
  3. Contact the user that made the post and request they remove the post or redact it
  4. Initiate a tort claim for defamation against the individual user who made the post, not the service provider

For more information about what options are available to you and what you can do to have defamatory comments removed from Internet service providers, contact Revision Legal’s Internet Defamation attorneys through the form on this page or call 855-473-8474.

Extra, Extra!
Recent Posts

Does the AI-Copyright Legal Fight Represent a National Security Threat?

Does the AI-Copyright Legal Fight Represent a National Security Threat?

Copyright

The holders of copyrights for newspapers, magazines, books, and other publications are involved in numerous legal battles with owners of AI modules over alleged copyright infringement. The plaintiff copyright owners claim that the AI large language modules have been trained on huge quantities of copyrighted materials without permission and — most importantly — without payment. […]

Read more about Does the AI-Copyright Legal Fight Represent a National Security Threat?

How Does Buy-Sell Insurance Work For An Owners’ Agreement?

How Does Buy-Sell Insurance Work For An Owners’ Agreement?

Corporate

The owners of most small, closely-held businesses negotiate and sign some form of an “Owner’s Agreement.” An important part of such Agreements is the “Buy-Sell” provisions. These are often some of the most difficult to negotiate. The gist of the buy-sell part of the Owners’ Agreement is to establish the rules for what happens if […]

Read more about How Does Buy-Sell Insurance Work For An Owners’ Agreement?

Status on Social Media Moderation Statutes and Cases

Status on Social Media Moderation Statutes and Cases

Internet Law

Social media content moderation by technology platforms was one of the “hot” legal topics in 2023-2024. Three States — California, Texas, and Florida — passed different statutes to either require more content moderation (California) or to limit such moderation (Texas and Florida). All the statutes, in one way or another, demanded more transparency and information […]

Read more about Status on Social Media Moderation Statutes and Cases

Put Revision Legal on your side