The Secret Digital “Scarlet Letter” Hurting Sexual Harassment Victims

By Recover Reputation
The Secret Digital
“Scarlet Letter” Hurting
Sexual Harassment Victims

Recover Reputation www.recoverreputation.com
Victims of sexual harassment
will have their online
reputation damaged.

Looking through the nearly
six dozen of Harvey
Weinstein’s alleged accusers
shows startling damage to
their online reputation.

Damage to victim’s reputation
can linger online for years.

When a:
● Business
● Headhunter
● Agent
● Prospective client
● Anyone

...conducts a search online,
the sexual assault article
shows up prominently.

As a result:
● People stop calling
● Businesses are hurt
● Their personal life is damaged

This victimizes them again,
becoming their digital “Scarlet
Letter”.

Here’s how online reputation
damage happens:

1. Articles appear quickly
online.

Articles centered on or about
victims of a sexual attack show
up nearly immediately.

Newspapers and major blogs:
● The New York Times
● HuffingtonPost
● Cnn.com
Appear at the very top of
search results.

2. Smear Campaigns

The perpetrator can lash back
creating a smear campaign to
discredit the victim.

This can be:
● Blogs
● Articles
● Social Media Posts
● Videos/Images

They enlist help from co-
workers, partners,
unscrupulous lawyers, private
investigators, or even hire
people to generate negative
information.

3. Trolls Attack

Hiding behind the cloak of
anonymity, “trolls” post
deliberately provocative and
damaging messages.

Trolls post on:
● Newsgroups
● Message boards
● Social media
● Memes
● Blog comments

● Also unscrupulous competitors
create untrue damaging
comments.
● This proliferates quickly,
causing further damage to the
victim’s online reputation.

4. Continued Negative Association

The person hurt by the sexual
perpetrator could be linked to
them forever.

Even though they have been
assaulted, the woman or man
will continue to be connected
to their assailant as articles,
tweets, and blogs appear in
search results.

5. Their Business Becomes
Invisible

The victim’s actual business
“disappears” online.

● Their name, profession or
business get pushed off the first
page of Google.
● As a result, an actress, consultant,
lawyer, real estate agent, store,
writer, business, student, etc. will
not be found online.

6. New Unrelated Accusers Creates
Cycle

As additional people come
forward, new content could
reference previous but unrelated
victims.

This creates a snowball effect:
● Additional revelations push down real
and legitimate accomplishments.
● Wipes out their own vast professional
experience.
● Forces them relive their disturbing
sexual ordeal again online.

7. Impossible to Remove

Once something is online,
it’s nearly impossible to remove.

● News articles are almost always
impossible to delete.
● Editors at newspapers ignore nearly all
takedown requests.
● So do webmasters and ISPs.
● Facebook comments or other posts are
protected by free speech.

8. The Power of Wikipedia

In looking through the dozens of
Harvey Weinstein’s alleged
victims, ALL are mentioned on
Wikipedia.

● Google ranks Wikipedia highly
● These appear at the top of search
results
● Continue to link innocent victims
with their accused sexual
perpetrator

8. Collateral Damage

Others could have their own web
reputation ruined due to indirect
connection to the sexual
harassment case.

What if the victim’s name comes up
inadvertently from an unrelated source?
● A family member appears in the news
● The company they work wins an award
● The lawyer who represented them is victorious
in another harassment case

All of these could continue to
keep the related association to
the victim alive, hurting their
web reputation yet again.

9. Those with Less Web Content
are Vulnerable

Someone with less of a web
presence could have their online
reputation ruined more quickly.

When there are few platforms such as:
● LinkedIn
● Wikipedia
● Their own website
● Facebook
● Twitter
● Pinterest
● Youtube
● Instagram
● Vimeo
● College alumni
sites
● IMDB
● Avvo, etc.

The more likely the negative
articles will quickly move to
the top of searches–and stay
there.

9. Reach Out with Questions

I am Steven W. Giovinco, and run
Recover Reputation.
Feel free to reach out with any
questions:
● 347-421-7598
● steve@recoverreputation.com

The Secret Digital “Scarlet Letter” Hurting Sexual Harassment Victims

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