Reputation law, in plain English
Almost every question about removing something online turns into a legal question within two steps. This section covers the law that actually governs it: who can be held responsible for a review, what counts as defamation, what the right to be forgotten does and does not do in the United States, and where the line sits between legitimate reputation work and the tactics that get people sued.
The single most useful thing to understand is that American law generally protects the platform, not the person the content is about. Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act means a review site is not treated as the publisher of what its users write, so a court will not usually order the site to remove a review simply because it is damaging. That one rule explains most of the frustration people feel: the platform can remove content under its own policies, and often will, but it is rarely obliged to.
What remains is still substantial. Defamation law reaches the person who wrote a false statement of fact. Copyright law reaches a photograph used without permission. Federal trade rules now reach fake reviews and paid testimonials directly. Privacy rules reach certain categories of personal information regardless of whether anything false was said. Each of these is a different door, with different requirements and different odds, and picking the wrong one wastes months.
The pages below explain each door on its own terms and link the primary source so you can read the statute or the agency guidance rather than take a summary on faith. None of this is legal advice, and a real case needs a real lawyer in your jurisdiction. What it will do is let you walk into that conversation knowing which question you are actually asking.
Reputation law, page by page
What is Section 230?
Why a platform is not treated as the publisher of what its users post, and what that leaves you.
Section 230 and online reviews
What the rule means in practice when the content you want gone is a review.
Libel vs slander
The written and spoken forms of defamation, and why the distinction matters less online than people expect.
What is defamation of character?
The elements a claim has to satisfy, and the defences that defeat most of them.
Online defamation
What counts when the statement was posted rather than printed, and who you can actually sue.
How to prove online defamation
Preserving evidence, identifying an anonymous poster, and the clock you are working against.
Right to be forgotten
What the European delisting right does, and what it never touches.
Right to be forgotten in the US
Why there is no American equivalent, and the state laws that do give you something.
How to request right to be forgotten
The form, the evidence, the timeline, and the reasons requests get refused.
GDPR Article 17
The right to erasure itself: when it applies, who it binds, and its exemptions.
What is a cease and desist letter?
What a demand letter can accomplish, what it cannot, and when sending one backfires.
DMCA takedown
The copyright route: when a photo of you is actually yours, and what a counter-notice does.
The FTC review rule
The federal rule on fake reviews and testimonials, and the penalties behind it.
Is it illegal to buy reviews?
Where platform policy ends and federal enforcement begins.
Is reputation management legal?
The legitimate tactics, the illegitimate ones, and exactly where the line falls.
Is it illegal to damage someone's reputation?
Civil liability, criminal exposure, and why truth is a complete defence.
Questions about reputation management legal
Is reputation management legal?
The legitimate parts are. Filing a policy complaint, sending a lawful demand letter, requesting delisting of personal information, and publishing accurate content are all legal. Impersonating a reviewer, mass false flagging, and filing copyright notices over content you do not own are not.
Can I sue a review site for a bad review?
Usually not for the review itself. Section 230 means the site is not treated as the publisher of what a user wrote. A claim generally has to be brought against the person who wrote it.
Is it illegal to damage someone's reputation?
Not by itself. Saying something true and damaging is lawful. Liability generally attaches to a false statement of fact that causes harm, which is what defamation law addresses.