By general rule, a post posted on a social network is not the subject of judicial protection in disputes about protection business reputation, since it represents a subjective judgment of a person (approved by the Presidium of the RF Armed Forces on March 16, 2016; hereinafter referred to as the Review of March 16, 2016). But there are exceptions to this rule.

However, the court of first instance rejected the claim (decision of the Arbitration Court of the Republic of Bashkortostan dated November 30, 2015 in case No. A07-12906/2015). Higher courts left this act unchanged (,). The publication of information on a social network, according to the judges, cannot be considered defamatory of business reputation, since it represents judgments and subjective opinions expressed by the defendant.

Disagreeing with this position, company "R" appealed to the Supreme Court Russian Federation with a complaint in which she asked to cancel the acts adopted by the lower courts ().

The court recalled that a legal entity has the right to demand a refutation of information discrediting its business reputation if the person who disseminated such information does not prove that it is true (,).

In this case, the circumstances that are relevant when considering such cases are:

• the fact that the defendant disseminated information about the plaintiff;
• the defamatory nature of this information;
• discrepancy with their reality (clause 7 of the Resolution of the Plenum of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation dated February 24, 2005 No. 3 "").

If at least one of these circumstances is absent, the claim cannot be satisfied.

The Supreme Court of the Russian Federation also emphasized that the dissemination of information discrediting the business reputation of legal entities also includes the dissemination of information on the Internet.

S. did not deny the fact that the disputed information was disseminated. But at the same time, she believed that this information was not defamatory, since it was an expression of her subjective opinion. The lower courts agreed

But the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation noted that when considering cases of protection of honor, dignity and business reputation, it is necessary to distinguish between statements of fact, the correspondence of which can be verified, and value judgments, opinions and beliefs, which are not the subject of judicial protection, since they cannot be check for validity ().

The information disputed by Company "R" represents information about the organization's illegal and dishonest behavior and is formulated in the form of statements. The information presented by S. does not indicate that the facts described are in the nature of assumptions and that she personally assesses the plaintiff’s behavior in this way. The chosen style of presentation of information, the Court emphasized, indicates the presence of the described facts in reality (the fact of underestimation of the cost of work, the fact of setting a dumping price, the fact of incompetence of the compilers of tender documentation, facts of corruption and other illegal behavior, fraud). All these facts can be verified. Therefore, such information is not subjective.

This is confirmed by the position of the defendant himself, who insisted that his statements were true.

In addition, even if the information is presented as the subjective opinion of the author, it may be the basis for (). This is possible in the case where such information indicates the illegal nature of the subject’s behavior and is offensive in nature.

Taking this into account, the RF Supreme Court canceled the acts of the lower courts and sent the case for a new trial.

What actions should you take to protect your rights? Is it possible to oblige the Instagram administration to delete this post? The user's full name and account name are known, and the user lives in another region.
Sergey

Hello. You can contact the administration in writing; if they refuse, then only through the courts.

The court at the location of the defendant, district. Art. 152. gk

Article 152. Protection of honor, dignity and business reputation

1. A citizen has the right to demand in court a refutation of information discrediting his honor, dignity or business reputation , unless the person disseminating such information proves that it is true. The refutation must be made in the same way in which information about the citizen was disseminated, or in another similar way.
At the request of interested parties, it is possible to protect the honor, dignity and business reputation of a citizen even after his death.

2. Information discrediting the honor, dignity or business reputation of a citizen and disseminated in the media mass media, must be refuted in the same media. A citizen in respect of whom the specified information has been disseminated in the media has the right to demand, along with a refutation, that his response also be published in the same media

3. If information discrediting the honor, dignity or business reputation of a citizen is contained in a document emanating from an organization, such a document is subject to replacement or revocation.

4. In cases where information discrediting the honor, dignity or business reputation of a citizen has become widely known and, in connection with this, a refutation cannot be brought to public knowledge, the citizen has the right to demand the removal of the relevant information, as well as the suppression or prohibition of further dissemination of this information by seizure and destruction, without any compensation, of copies of material media containing the specified information made for the purpose of introducing into civil circulation, if without destroying such copies of material media, deleting the relevant information is impossible.

5. If information discrediting the honor, dignity or business reputation of a citizen turns out to be available on the Internet after its distribution, the citizen has the right to demand the removal of the relevant information, as well as a refutation of this information in a way that ensures that the refutation is communicated to Internet users.

6. The procedure for refuting information discrediting the honor, dignity or business reputation of a citizen in cases other than those specified in paragraphs 2 - 5 of this article is established by the court.

7. Application of penalties to the violator for failure to comply with a court decision does not relieve him of the obligation to perform the action prescribed by the court decision.

8. If it is impossible to identify the person who disseminated information discrediting the honor, dignity or business reputation of a citizen, the citizen in respect of whom such information was disseminated has the right to apply to the court to declare the disseminated information untrue.

9. A citizen in respect of whom information discrediting his honor, dignity or business reputation has been disseminated, along with a refutation of such information or publication of his response, has the right to demand compensation for damages and compensation for moral damage, caused by the dissemination of such information.

Please note that you will have to prove all this yourself. Since this is posted online, be sure to print out all these screenshots, correspondence, etc. before filing a claim. and have them certified by a notary - then they will be evidence in court.

To collect evidence, in principle, you can also write a statement to the police, but verification of the facts of slander is very difficult to achieve, after all, these are cases of private prosecution, as far as I remember.

Why online?

The image must be good everywhere. But if a seedy newspaper with a circulation of 2 thousand copies publishes material with unpleasant information about your company, then you will probably lose 2-3 real clients. But if something similar appears in a community of the same small number of subscribers, then one potential buyer will make it the property of almost everyone target audience, which uses the "global web".

Also, everything that appears offline is almost always duplicated online today. But monitoring the virtual world and responding to any attempts to denigrate you is easier and faster!

The main tasks of protecting a company's reputation on the Internet:

• formation and maintenance of a positive image;
• creating transparent relationships with partners and clients;
• preparation of the necessary information field;
• sales promotion;
• growth of economic performance indicators;

Where and from whom should you protect your reputation?

The global web is a living organism that has a lot to offer modern business. At the same time, this is where a powerful reputational threat lurks. New reviews and custom articles are constantly appearing, which may not even correspond to the real state of affairs.

Forums, blogs, social networks, including Facebook, Twitter, VKontakte, Instagram, news resources - all these are places where defamatory rumors, facts or personal opinions about your trademark, goods or services.

Who can negatively influence the brand image:

• direct competitors;
• real consumers of goods and services;
• your staff;
• you yourself - issuing a marriage or proposing poor quality services- giving news sites or clients a reason to talk badly about you.

SERM as the best tool for protection

Today, the functions of protecting a company’s reputation are successfully handled by an online tool such as SERM. Only by competently managing your image can you not only form a favorable opinion about your company, but also reliably protect its name from various attacks.

To avoid losing face, you need to:

• constantly monitor information;
• systematize any negative, distinguishing real consumer dissatisfaction from ordered black PR;
• respond to real problems in a timely manner, deal with slander from competitors;
• displace negativity from the TOP of search results;
• build up positivity about the brand and promote it.

Sometimes they work for years to create the right image, but you can lose it very quickly. And this will immediately affect the number of clients, their attitude towards you, and economic performance indicators! To avoid potential problems, it is better to entrust the functions of creating and protecting your reputation to professionals.

SERM services: image development, elimination of negativity

Removing negativity or SERM (or reputation management) is already a fairly popular and in-demand service. The concept has existed for quite a long time, each reputable company closely monitored her reputation.

Concept reputation management includes monitoring and analysis of mentions of the brand, communications with the target audience, response to reviews and comments.

Key actions in working with online reputation include:

1. Dominance in search engines.

What will the user see when entering the company brand name in search engine? Will this be the company’s website, links to official pages on the social network? Or pages with presentations and company portfolios. Or the search results will not contain information about the brand you are looking for and potential client he will simply leave with nothing. The user's further actions depend on the search results.

To be visible in the market, it is very important to provide the audience with comprehensive information about the brand.

2. Search and analysis of mentions in search engines.

You can monitor mentions the old fashioned way, manually, by entering each query one by one and studying the results. But if a brand has been on the market for a long time, then you will have to spend a lot of time to view all the results. You may also miss comments on social media or forums.

A more productive way is to use a special service to search for mentions. Today there are a considerable number of them. They differ in quality of work, depth of monitoring, and tariffs. Therefore, it would be justified to outsource this service.

3. Creation and implementation of a PR strategy

To complement the existing information picture of the brand, it is important to develop a PR strategy for proper positioning and interaction with the audience.

Constant activity on social networks, publications of expert articles in popular sources, and descriptions of new products on the official pages of the brand will increase the loyalty of the target audience. All this will help you maintain a connection with your audience.

4. Working with negativity.

Negative mentions can come from: dissatisfied client, and an envious competitor, each of such reviews poses a threat to the brand’s reputation. But a competent reaction from a brand representative can neutralize the negativity. Promptness in reacting to negativity is another important factor. By reassuring the author of the comment, a brand representative can not only neutralize the negativity, but also confirm his expertise in the eyes of the audience.

5. Working with reviews.

Customer reviews serve as direct evidence of the audience's attention to the brand. And positive reviews are an excellent support for the company’s image. If such reviews are found during monitoring, you can place them on the company’s website page; they will only play in favor of the reputation. Reviews from real customers play a big role in the purchasing decisions of subsequent potential customers.

Social networks, thematic blogs, informational resources, forums, etc.

Regular activity on these platforms will help keep your audience's attention. Creating a reputation as an expert through interactions with these platforms will only help strengthen the brand image.

7. Brand advocates.

The best brand advocates are satisfied customers. If there are any, you simply need to encourage them for reviews and comments regarding the brand. Giving a discount, a bonus, an invitation to a private event - all this will only increase the status of the brand in the eyes of customers.

Creating a reputation management strategy

Yeella specialists have been working with the reputation of companies in various directions. During this time, it became obvious that the reputation of each brand does not depend on the quality of its product, service or professional staff.

First of all, reputation depends on the attention that brand representatives pay to it. Only a company whose image is regularly developed by competent specialists can develop in a profitable direction.

Work on reputation management begins with the selection of a responsible specialist.

A true reputation management specialist is already 50% of the success of the planned tasks.

An expert in Pr and SERM creates a work strategy, approving it with the customer.

In order for the strategy to optimally suit the needs of the company, it is important to initially conduct in-depth monitoring of mentions about the company on the Internet. You can simply enter the brand name into the search engine, or you can use professional services to monitor mentions (at Yeella, specialists combine both options).

Based on the information obtained as a result of monitoring and taking into account the goals that the customer expects to achieve, a set of measures to manage brand reputation is formed.

SERM comes into play, a set of actions through which the brand’s reputation is systematically improved and is under stable protection.

Work with reputation can progress in several directions:

• Saturation of online fields with positive information. Optimally suitable for young companies with little or no information about their brand on the Internet.
• Neutralization of existing negativity and work to prevent negativity in the future for companies that have been on the market for a long time and want to protect themselves from black PR.
• Comprehensive reputation management - active dissemination of positive information, work with opinion leaders; regular monitoring of existing information about the company and prompt response to comments on the network.

To work in each of the areas, a content plan is formed - a list of publications and materials that will be systematically published on trust platforms. Such materials include:

• press releases,
• review articles,
• information materials,
• positive reviews/comments

In the process of publishing the above-described materials, sites with negative information are gradually shifting to those search pages that users simply do not visit. Therefore, the negative will go unnoticed by your potential clients within a few months.

How Yeella experts work with online reputation:

• Regularly monitor mentions of the brand/company
• Neutralize negativity in search engines
• Create and develop a positive brand image online
• Publish articles, reviews, and positive feedback
• Control communication on social networks
• Promptly respond to new mentions of the brand
• They are always “on the alert” when it comes to dealing with reputation.

Do you want to start improving your company's reputation now? Just fill out the application form and Yeella specialists will contact you.

Speaking about negative reviews on the Internet, you need to determine what is meant by this wording from a legal point of view. In the resolution of the Plenum of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation No. 3 of February 24, 2005, paragraph 7 explains that the dissemination of information discrediting business reputation should be understood, in particular, as information containing allegations of violation by a legal entity current legislation, committing a dishonest act, incorrect, unethical behavior, dishonesty in the implementation entrepreneurial activity, violation business ethics or business customs.

Determining the Proper Defendant

To determine the forms and methods of defense, it is necessary to identify several essential conditions that will help establish the proper defendant.

As a rule, a company whose business reputation is damaged cannot reliably identify the author of the review. And even if it is known, but there is no documentary evidence, the court will refuse to satisfy the requirements.

In paragraph 5 of the said Resolution, defendants in claims for the protection of business reputation are the authors of untrue and derogatory information, as well as the persons who disseminated this information.

Consequently, the proper defendant is not only the author, but also the platform on which such a review was left. But it is possible that the domain, as well as the server on which the site is located, is located outside the Russian Federation.

In this case, the appropriate defendant will be the Office of the Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, information technologies and mass communications.

Which court should I file an application for protection of business reputation?

The Arbitration Procedural Code determines that only arbitration courts are authorized to consider cases of protection of reputation that takes place in the field of business and other economic activities.

Moreover, such cases are considered by the arbitration court, regardless of whether the parties to the dispute are citizens ( individuals), individual entrepreneurs or legal entities or other organizations.

However, if the dispute does not concern entrepreneurial and other economic activities, it is within the competence of a court of general jurisdiction.

Evidence of publication of a negative review

In courts of general jurisdiction (regional, global, city, etc.) and in Arbitration Courts (when the plaintiff and defendant are legal entities or individual entrepreneurs) rules apply: each party is obliged to prove what it refers to. Consequently, if you indicate the address of the review and a printout from the site, then in most cases the judge will refuse to attach the documents to the plaintiff, since the judge will not go to the site to check the accuracy of the statements.

It is more correct to contact a notary to record a negative review. This document is called the “Evidence Inspection Protocol.” The notary himself visits the site and records this in the form of descriptive text and screenshots. It is worth keeping in mind that not every notary does this. The cost of the service is from 6,000 rubles.

The applicant is not required to prove that the information is true. In accordance with paragraph 1 of Art. 152 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, the responsibility to prove the accuracy of the disseminated information lies with the defendant. The plaintiff is obliged to prove the fact of dissemination of information by the person against whom the claim is brought, as well as the defamatory nature of this information.

YouTube video: evidence of negative information

With video things are more complicated. Along with the claim, you must provide the disk on which the video was saved. However, the defendant may claim that the plaintiff did not prove the fact of its publication on YouTube.

For example, the Arbitration Court Krasnodar region in his decision of February 12, 2016 in case No. A33-15606/2015, he tried to make an official request:

“At the same time, during the trial, the defendant’s representative also stated the argument that the plaintiff did not prove the fact that the controversial videos were posted on the Internet on the YouTube website. By a ruling dated January 12, 2016, the court demanded information from the limited liability company “Google” about who the above videos were posted, who owned the account […] in the period from 05/01/2015 to 08/31/2015.

According to a letter from the limited liability company Google dated January 29, 2016, this organization does not administer the YouTube service and does not have the technical ability to provide the requested information. The YouTube service is provided by the American company YouTube LLC. All information related to the YouTube service is collected and processed in the United States by YouTube LLC."

However, the plaintiff in this case was a little lucky, since the court invited the defendant to provide an agreement with the provider in order to make him a request, but he did not provide such documents, and the judge took the side of the applicant, ordered the defendant to issue a refutation, but refused to collect 300 thousand rubles of moral and reputational damage, since Negative consequences have not been proven.

Subjective opinion and unreliable feedback - what's the difference?

A common belief is erroneous that the person who wrote the review can interpret it as a subjective opinion. Actually this is not true. At the same time, the courts also make mistakes, but there are also courts of appeal and cassation.

In fact, if the information posted on the site is presented in an affirmative form, then it cannot be considered as a subjective opinion, since the distributor reported them as facts that actually took place. Accordingly, information can convince an unlimited number of people of something, and potential partners, clients and customers of the applicant form a negative opinion.

In relation to entrepreneurial activity, the criterion of defamation may include not only information about the obviously immoral and unethical behavior of a person, but also those that, although they do not indicate such behavior, still detract from the actual qualities (dignities) of a particular entity acting in business sector, clearly underestimate the achieved (including economic) indicators, cast doubt on its competitiveness and market viability, which can negatively affect business relationship with counterparties, reduce demand for the goods produced, that is, lead to an unfavorable economic result. However, there are exceptions. Thus, in 2013, the airline ticket booking service OneTwoTrip filed a lawsuit with the Arbitration Court of St. Petersburg and Leningrad region, where the defendant was the social network Vkontakte (case No. A56-61842/2013). The applicant asked to remove the group with negative reviews on the site, considering them unreliable and discrediting business reputation.

But the court did not agree with the plaintiff, recognized the information as the subjective opinion of the authors, and in addition, in its decision dated February 12, 2014, it indicated that the plaintiff had not confirmed that the reviews in the group related specifically to this company.

Perhaps the appellate authority would have considered it differently, but the complaint was filed in violation of the requirements and was returned without consideration.

Important! What requirements should be presented in the statement of claim?

In the pleading part, it is necessary to demand a refutation of the information in the same way in which the false review was made. That is, if it was in a social network group with pinning to the top line, then the refutation should be done in exactly the same way. In this case, it is advisable to indicate in the court decision a period within which the message should not be deleted.

As for moral and reputational damage, most often the courts refuse to satisfy such claims or significantly reduce them due to the lack of evidence that confirms or determines exactly the amount indicated in the claim.

We live in the 21st century, and there is no need to convince anyone of the benefits of information technology. The President of the country and the Government are carrying out systematic work, as a result of which the Internet has come to every school, to a resident of the most remote corner of our country. Today we can talk about the commercialization of the Internet as an accomplished event. Indeed, almost any company has Global network your website. And many companies not only follow the trends of the times, but also try to really use them in their business. Yes and about ecommerce You don’t have to say anything. There are more than enough online stores selling anything on the Internet.

Appeared great amount publicly available social networks, various forums, chats in which our population of different ages and social groups communicates.

However, along with the benefits, the Internet also brought the opportunity spread negative information about a person. Along with business, all its attributes came into the virtual space, including unfair competition.

Often political strategists use the World Wide Web for black PR!

It seems to the boor that he is anonymous on the Internet, and under a virtual mask he can write whatever he wants. You can fearlessly offend or slander a person and there is no need to fear that anyone will find out the name of the offender or in any way force him to answer for his words.

Unfortunately, this opinion is largely justified. Few people dare to go to court and defend themselves, their reputation and their dignity. There are very few precedents in Russia for resolving disputes about online abuse. Some people don’t have money, some are lazy, some are afraid of being branded as a troublemaker. Many judges, prosecutors, lawyers and other lawyers are afraid to get involved in this type of case. And slander and insults are becoming more and more every day.

What to do, how to protect yourself from virtual tyranny?

So, let's look at what levers there are to influence boors and “woeful businessmen”, and how can you protect yourself from attacks on the Internet?

Firstly, every Internet user, of course, needs to know their rights as reflected in the legislative acts of the Russian Federation.

Constitution of the Russian Federation, Article 21:

Personal dignity is protected by the state. Nothing can be a reason to belittle him.

Article 23:

Everyone has the right to privacy, personal and family secrets, protection of their honor and good name.

Article 34:

Not allowed economic activity aimed at monopolization and unfair competition.

Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, Article 129:

Slander, that is, the dissemination of deliberately false information that discredits the honor and dignity of another person or undermines his reputation.

Article 130:

Insult, that is, humiliation of the honor and dignity of another person, expressed in an indecent form.

Civil Code of the Russian Federation, Article 152:

A citizen has the right to demand in court a refutation of information discrediting his honor, dignity or business reputation, unless the person who disseminated such information proves that it is true.

The rules of this article on the protection of a citizen’s business reputation apply accordingly to the protection of business reputation legal entity.

Secondly, if there is an incident, you can follow the path civil protection, and in the direction criminal prosecution of the guilty person. Also, the law does not exclude the simultaneous use of these two ways.

Thus, the Law allows both citizens and legal entities to be protected from all the phenomena discussed above. At the same time, not everything is as simple as we would like.

To file a claim in an arbitration court or a court of general jurisdiction, you must know and indicate the defendant. Moreover, in accordance with paragraph 1, art. 1064 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation: Harm caused to the person or property of a citizen, as well as harm caused to the property of a legal entity, is subject to compensation in full by the person who caused the harm.

A problem arises - to protect your rights in court it is necessary to establish and identify the villain .

Let's say a citizen decides to seek protection in the direction of criminal prosecution. He comes to the police, they answer him - Article 129 and 130 are cases of private prosecution, go to court. Of those who reach the magistrate and receive a decision to initiate criminal proceedings based on the fact against unidentified persons, not many will find the strength to wait for the police to identify the attacker. Most likely, in the bowels of some police department, the criminal case will be dismissed for failure to identify the person subject to criminal liability.

The result is the same - the scoundrel has not been identified and, according to the law, there is no one to ask!

Dead end? No! In this situation, if this damages the business, the company’s reputation or the image of a business person, it is necessary to contact specialists. How can they help you, how will they try to be useful to you? It is known that any event leaves traces in the surrounding world. A good professional always knows where and how to find these traces.

Can we help you?

The association of security structures "Oskord" is, first of all, a team high professionals. Among us there are competent lawyers and information security specialists. At the pre-trial stage, we will help prepare the relevant documents. Our consultations in each specific situation will help you obtain evidence. Your copyright, brand, good name today can be protected from any attacks.

More detailed information You can find information about the work of the information security service in the “information services” section, or by calling the phone in Moscow.