Reputation Management - Ethics

Ethics

The practice of reputation management raises many ethical considerations. There is no agreement within the industry on where to draw the line on issues like disclosure, astroturfing and censorship. Firms have been known to hire staff to pose as a blogger on third party sites without disclosing they were paid. Some have been criticized for asking websites to remove negative posts. In some instances the act of unethical reputation management can itself be risky to the reputation of the firm, if their tactics to hide negative information are exposed.

Some firms refuse to lie and practice ethical forms of reputation management. The Online Reputation Management Association tries to promote ethical best practices through a certification program. According to Google, there is nothing inherently wrong with reputation management, but they may take action on companies using spammy or manipulative techniques to alter search results. Google even introduced a toolset in 2011 for users to monitor their online identity and request removal of unwanted content. Many firms are selective about clients they accept. For example, they may avoid individuals that committed violent crimes that are looking to push information about their crimes lower on search results.