In-House Counsel Guidebook: How to Handle Internet Defamation and Online Reputation Attacks August 2014 | Page 4
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top strategic risk for large businesses. Not only was it the overall
“highest impact risk area,” but reputation was also the top concern
in most individual sectors. A primary cause for such concern is how
easily and quickly information can spread on the internet and social
media, and the resulting potential of widespread damage.
Since these types of attacks are becoming so common, and
considering the strong First Amendment protections in the United
States, businesses are facing serious challenges in protecting and
defending themselves against these attacks. Given that a legal
analysis is often involved when determining how to handle these
online reputation attacks – both against the businesses themselves
and their professionals – we expect that in-house legal counsel will
commonly be asked for input.
This Guidebook provides a number of insights for in-house counsel
involved with these types of situations – based on what we have
learned from handling hundreds of these types of cases – and reflects
what we believe will be most helpful to in-house counsel dealing
with online reputation attacks on their businesses.
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