A Case Study on the Removal of Content Due to Withdrawn Consent

Issue

A client approached Snapdragon Media seeking assistance with a distressing situation. The client had been a victim of domestic abuse, and information about this incident had been published online without her consent. By being named in the articles, she was continuously being targeted online, and her ex’s family and friends were making comments. As a result, she requested for infringing Google Search Results to be removed.

Understandably, this unauthorised content was causing significant problems for the client, particularly in their job search efforts, as she was unable to work through the traumatic events that entailed. Potential employers can easily find this information when searching online. Evidently, the ongoing presence of this content online was having a detrimental effect on the client’s mental health, serving as a constant reminder of the traumatic event.

Considering the sensitivity and urgency of the situation, our team took immediate action.

What Actions Did Snapdragon Take

Understanding the sensitivity and urgency of the situation, we immediately crafted a plan to collate links that were easily visible within the search results and conduct a site search to identify links not currently indexed which could appear after removals take place. By employing this strategic approach, we aimed to effectively minimise the visibility of the damaging information, safeguarding our client’s privacy and reputation from the potential fallout of the incident.

Results

Our efforts proved to be highly effective. Over the course of a month, Snapdragon Media successfully removed almost 35 links from Google related to the incident from search engine results. This comprehensive removal process was crucial in helping our client move forward with their life, free from the constant online reminders of the attack.

Whilst great results were achieved, there is potential for content to be published without the client’s consent. As a result, the client opted for us to monitor her search results until no new infringing content could be found for a period of time. She further requested that we handle her Bing and Yahoo search results, which was done. All requests were submitted, resulting in over 100 links being removed within a calendar month.