One’s offline reputation can be tarnished by some gossip around town that can eventually fade way. One’s online reputation can be destroyed by a few poison words that can be indexed in Google forever.

That brings me to my post today. I am disgusted that I have to address this issue at all, but the time has come where I have to publicly address the injustice of the situation I’m facing and defend myself against completely false allegations. I have been quietly living through this nightmare for 6 months and I am finally now going to speak out and tell my story. Buckle up and get ready for a long one.

Approximately six months ago, I received an anonymous email from someone stating they’ll “won’t be doing any further business” with me based on claims on a complaint website regarding me and my business. This came as a complete surprise as I had no idea who this person was that had implied they have done business with me. It was from an anonymous gmail address. When I went searching for said complaint, I was shocked and completely horrified by what I found. (I will not be linking to the offending site, but if you are smart and know how to use Google, I’m sure you can find what I am referencing.)

What I found was a so called “consumer complaint” website with horrific allegations made against me by a “third-party” poster, that I am a child predator. It was complete with my name, company name, links to my site, videos, displaying my home address and a map, etc. What is worse, links to the complaint on the site where indexed on the 1st page of Google in searches for my name, my business name, etc.

It almost goes without saying, but I will say it here. The allegations that have been made against me on that website are of course patently false and have no basis. Anybody who knows me would know that those ugly things said about me cannot possibly be true. I am a work-at-home mother to a small child, running a small business, trying to make an honest living. There is no possibility that what have been accused of can be remotely true. It is clear that some sick and deranged person had set out to do serious harm to me and my business. To this day, I still do not know the person who has done this to me or why.

My first course of action was to contact the owner of the supposed consumer complaint website, and kindly ask that they please remove the false and defamatory content from the website. I was sent a response that shot down my request citing their policy that they never remove reports that are claimed to contain defamatory, even if the original author requests it. They do this in the name of free speech and to avoid “rampant censorship”. But they suggested 2 courses of action:

1. Contact the person who made the complaint (who, may I remind you, was basically “anonymous”)
2. Take part in their “COPA” program where I can pay them $4999 a year to be able to defend myself

This same website’s policy and FAQ displays a “go ahead and sue me” attitude, because they are protected by Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act. (I won’t go into it’s merits or details, but you can find more info here too) IT was soon after this initial contact that a 2nd false complaint appeared on the site, not of the same ugly nature, but still completely false and still damaging.

I did consult an attorney to see what my options could be, but it didn’t leave me with much hope. Unfortunately, I am a small business and do not have the deep pockets of a large corporation to be able to come up with the tens of thousands of dollars to front for legal fees to be able to fight this in court. The only real course of action I had left was to file complaints with the state attorney general offices in my state and the state the website is located in. I had done so nearly 6 months ago and now it’s just a waiting game if the state attorneys choose to take any action.

So why am I waiting until now to tell my story? Frankly, I was embarrassed that such awful things were being said about me and did not want to give it publicity. Also, I did not want to bring much public attention to it because I did not want to give that website a boost in traffic. Though I have tried to rise above by continuing to provide great services to my clients, marketing my business, and blogging, with the hope that this ugly content would be buried in Google, but it is still coming back to haunt me. If I do not speak up, it still leaves the allegation open to question, and I cannot have that anymore. I can’t have potential clients Google my name a have these outrageous allegations cause them to question my credibility or my ethics.

It is horrible that such things can be done to innocent people, especially small business owners, and they have little recourse. This could have happened to anyone in my industry. Someone with a vendetta and a few poison words has the potential to destroy businesses and lives. Online defamation and libel needs to stop and I wish people would not be able to easily hide behind anonymous names without consequences in cases like mine.

Let it be known that again, that the allegations made against me are completely false. I, Megan E. Barber, owner of Barber Virtual Assisting Solutions,  am a good, decent human being, an upstanding citizen, and do not have so much as a speeding ticket to my name. I have been a victim of online defamation, and it has been nothing short of a nightmare. I don’t know what the absolute solution is, but I wanted to start by getting my side of the story out there and making sure there is no question about my ethics and integrity.

I will not stand for it anymore! And you shouldn’t either, so I invite you to please share my story.

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Megan Barber is a Real Estate Virtual Assistant, and owner of Barber Virtual Assisting Solutions. With over 12 years of experience working within the real estate industry, Megan provides top notch real estate support services such as marketing, lead follow-up, social media, WordPress websites, and more. She is also author of VA Mommy and Co-Founder of REVA Academy, a Real Estate VA Training program.

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