YouTube defamation complaint

Defamation on YouTube could be directed at an organisation or an individual. In some cases, defamation on YouTube may also be considered a form of harassment.

What to do if your defamation complaint to YouTube has been ignored

What grounds would Google consider for removal of a defamatory YouTube video

What to do if your defamation complaint has been ignored

If you have already made a complaint of defamation in relation to a YouTube video, and your defamation complaint has been ignored, you should consider escalating matters slightly. You should consider seeking legal advice at the earliest opportunity and prior to submitting legal requests to Google yourself.

Having dealt with hundreds of defamatory YouTube videos, our lawyers are most likely to advise you on the most appropriate ground, under which you will have the defamatory YouTube video removed from the internet.

What grounds would Google consider for removal of a defamatory YouTube video

Google offers a number of grounds under which you may have defamatory YouTube videos removed. The grounds upon which Google will delete videos from YouTube are as follows:

• Defamation: What constitutes defamation would widely vary in each country where the defamatory YouTube video is featured. In most cases, Google will require you to demonstrate that you have a good reputation in each of the countries that you are seeking to have the defamatory YouTube video removed from, as a pre-requisite to making a successful complaint about the defamatory YouTube video.
• Trademark: The way you own a trademark would differ from country to country. In many countries, for example, there is a requirement to register a trademark before you can claim that it had been breached. In the United Kingdom, by contrast, the such requirement does not exist.
• Counterfeit: If the defamatory YouTube video also features the presentation of counterfeit goods, you will be able to ask Google to take the defamatory YouTube video on that basis.
• Data Protection: If the defamatory YouTube video contains private information about you or any information that is inaccurate, under English and European law, you will have a right to request that Google remove the YouTube video from European searches. It is often better to ask Google to remove a defamatory video on the grounds of data protection law than on grounds of defamation because under data protection laws, the video only needs to include inaccurate information about you, whilst under defamation law, if the information in the YouTube video is substantially true, Google might decline your request.
• Breach of privacy: If the defamatory YouTube video infringes on your privacy by, for example, disclosing private information about you or about your family. This will often include videos that refer to your sexuality, your religion or to your skin colour.
• Harassment: Often, defamatory videos on YouTube are posted with a view of causing the individual featuring in the video harassment and distress. Harassment can also be inferred from comments to defamatory YouTube videos and from the number of videos posted about the same individual or about people or matters relating to him or her. In many cases, truth is not a defence to harassment, so it might be easier to have a defamatory YouTube video removed from YouTube on the ground of harassment than on the ground of defamation.