When Realtors are Attacked by Online Defamation of Character

Realtors Online Attack

Many realtors struggle with Online Defamation of Character with false allegations of dishonesty, incompetency and poor ethics. Page1.me understands the hard work you put into building your reputation over many years, which can be destroyed by an anonymous antagonist with as little as five minutes work. We sympathize with realtors who seek to prevent or recover from the devastating effects of defamation of character. We also understand that courts are increasingly compelled to lean towards favoring absolute freedom of speech, as evidenced by recent lawsuits.

Real-life case study where page1.me removed extremely defamatory content about the realtor from the first page of Google search results within three weeks.

The following screenshot is from an actual case study of an Australian realtor who had been struggling with Internet defamation for several years. She had spent many thousands of dollars on traditional search engine optimization services to no avail. Page1.me was able to sanitize the first page of Google within only three weeks (original estimate was 9 weeks.

NOTE: If you are having problems with Internet defamation against your personal name or business name, simply enter the problem search term in the field within the blue bar above, choose the country in which you live, and click “get quote”.

In the case of Kruger v. Daniel, the appellate court dismissed a case brought to the courts by real estate broker, Jeff Daniel. All it took for Daniels to lose was the defendant’s filing of a special motion under the state of Washington’s anti-SLAPP statute.

The acronym SLAPP stands for “Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation.” Anti-SLAPP statutes effectively allow judges to dismiss suits before the costly discovery phase of a defamation lawsuit.  With apparent disregard of the potential backlash on innocent realtors and other licensed professionals, it looks as if anti-SLAPP legislation is here to stay.

As of November 10, 2014, 27 US states have enacted anti-SLAPP laws to protect those who post negative feedback online. These states include Oregon, California, Arizona, Nevada, Utah, New Mexico, Texas and more than 10 states on the East Coast. New Jersey is the latest state to add the special protection to its law books.

In states where anti-SLAPP statutes exist, realtors may have a tougher time prevailing in a court of law, despite the damaging toll defamation of character can have on its target.

If you’re a real estate professional in any state that has enacted anti-SLAPP legislation, we urge you to let us remove the damaging report from page 1 of Google Search. Page1.me is your go-to emergency solution for rapid removal of undesirable search engine results.  According to Google, if you can sanitize the first page of Google search results for your name or your business name, by pushing the unfavorable results to the second page of Google search, you reduce exposure to only 6% of what it would have been, had the results remained on page 1.

Sources:

https://anti-slapp.org/your-states-free-speech-protection/

http://www.realtor.org/legal-case-summaries/posters-of-negative-online-review-prevail