Clearway Law, what is it and why the controversy?
There is a new law emerging in a bid to stop false and untrue reviews on websites such as Google and Yelp which have been unfairly affecting businesses. The new law is now in effect after a company just won $90,000 in court against someone who posted untrue and oddly ridiculous claims online.
Why do people want to stop Clearway Law?
This Reddit posting came from the marketing manager of a law firm in Toronto. He contacted me and demanded I took down the profiles of all the lawyers at his firm. He said only he could control the online reputation of his lawyers. He also posted that I was a molester on Google Maps, which was later removed by Google.
Spending money on online bullying
The fact that someone would actually spend hundreds or thousands of dollars targeting mass groups of people is beyond me. My guess is that they were invested in Clearway’s suffering, and knew that spending maybe $2000 was cheaper (and much faster) than filing a lawsuit. They got instant revenge.
Their advertisements have been successful. Once they started the advertisements, the Google searches for my company went from 1000 people a month to 35,000.
While I was writing this article, “Jackthemov,” the same person who was posting the Reddit posts and emailing us weekly, reuploaded a review that Google has removed three times for being false.
Clearway Law Controversy
I even had to deactivate my voicemail on my cellphone, because there was some bot harasser that left a voicemail every five minutes, demanding I take down the lawyer profiles or someone would “call the police for fraud.”
But some people see right through the defamation. They see that our mission is to increase lawyer accountability, and we have received a lot of support.
There is nothing illegal about indexing information from the internet
Someone emailed me the other day the following:
“I Googled your company and the challenges you are facing (believe it or not) make me want to work there more and more. There is nothing illegal about what you are doing but it seems that you ruffle feathers for doing something that ought to be common sense. I believe that, as long as other people’s information and photos are posted publicly and you obtain them legally, there is nothing inherently wrong about taking them and using them for your own service.”
It should have been a clue to Ginther that he was entering dangerous legal territory when he complained to his credit card company, and they didn’t believe him. Just because he was dissatisfied with the product he received, it didn’t give him the right to commit credit card fraud (denying a charge when he approved it), nor did it give him the right to post false and malicious statements online about Longhouse.
The goal of fake reviews is to cause damage to a company
When someone writes something about a company like Longhouse Wood saying that they are dishonest with credit cards, and are running a fraud, it causes serious damage. The sole purpose of these types of reviews isn’t to educate the public, but to damage the business. In this case, the defendant refused to take down the reviews for three years (until after the lawsuit was filed.)
Starting a business is gut-retching work. It involves worrying or dealing with lawsuits, constantly organizing invoices and receipts for the bookkeeper, responding to regulators, cash flow issues, worrying about if the right people you hire are going to work out, and countless other stresses and doubts. Some random person should not be able to post false things about your business with the goal of destroying your hard work without consequences. If they do, there should be serious consequences.
If your business actually makes a mistake or is doing something wrong, bad reviews can be positive, in that they help your business improve. They can also give you the chance to tell your side of the story. When a lawyer posts a one-star review saying we are unethical, we respond by explaining our company’s mission, which is to increase lawyer accountability. We want the public to have access to information to decide on a lawyer. Who they pick doesn’t matter to us. We don’t make money from which law firm they pick. We don’t receive referral fees.
A South Bend injury attorney has the following opinion: I believe it is crucial to address the impact that false and defamatory online reviews can have on lawyers and their professional reputation. Maintaining our integrity as legal professionals is of utmost importance, and baseless accusations can cause significant harm.
We must be mindful of the ethical implications surrounding online reviews and remind individuals of their responsibility to refrain from spreading false information and damaging the reputation of others. It is essential for people to question the validity of what they read online and not contribute to the normalization of defamation.
File lawsuits instead of defaming people
Instead of posting false things about a company, people should file lawsuits (if they actually think that what they are saying is true.) When you read on social media about some incredible wrong and damage that a company did to them, it’s 95% made up. The people know they could never convince a judge that they are right, so they just post on Reddit instead. Reddit feeds off drama, so they are unlikely to remove posts.
Many businesses also don’t file lawsuits, because it’s hard to calculate the dollar amount of damages that come from a bad online review. What is the dollar amount for someone saying that you are a fraud online? Most people just guess, but that doesn’t work for judges. So many defamers get away with it. Once I am done fighting for lawyer accountability, maybe I will build some technology to identify fake reviews online.