Today
- Take full page screenshots of every post. Make sure the address bar, the date and the author's name are visible.
- Save each page as a file too. Posts get edited or deleted once the author knows you have seen them.
- Write down when you first saw it and how you found it.
- Do not reply. Not yet.
This week
- Report each post under the specific rule it breaks, such as harassment, impersonation or private information. "This is false" on its own almost never works.
- Check Google's results about you tool if your address or phone number is out there.
- Figure out when the first post went up. In California you generally have one year from that date to sue.
This month
- Talk to a lawyer, even briefly. Many offer low cost first consultations through State Bar certified referral services.
- Decide between doing nothing, a letter, a restraining order or a lawsuit.
- Put accurate information about yourself online so search results show more than the attack.
Why saving evidence comes first
It feels backwards. You want the thing gone, and here we are telling you to make copies of it. But every route that might actually help you later, from a platform appeal to a restraining order to a lawsuit, starts with proof of what was posted and when. People who skip this step often find the post quietly edited, or deleted and reposted somewhere else, and they have nothing to show anyone.
Keep a simple log as you go: the link, the date you found it, what it said, who you reported it to and what they answered. It takes five minutes a day and it is the single most useful thing a lawyer can receive from you.
The mistakes that make it worse
Arguing in the comments is the big one. It gives the post fresh activity and hands the author new material. Paying a site to remove a post is the second. Some sites make money exactly that way, and paying often leads to more posts. And be careful with reputation companies that promise guaranteed removal. Some of them send misleading legal notices or worse, and you can end up responsible for what they did in your name.
If you know who is behind it, do not post their personal information or try to expose them. It can turn you into the defendant.
What actually gets things taken down
Platforms remove content that breaks their own rules: harassment, threats, impersonation, private information. They do not remove content because it is untrue, because they have no way to decide that. So the trick is to report the post for what it is under their rules, with your evidence attached. If the attack is on its own website, its hosting company may have rules the site owner is breaking. Our guides on attack websites and Google removals go through each route.
If this has happened to you, add your name. Legislators count signatures by district.
Sign the petitionWhen the law gets involved
If a person you can identify keeps harassing you, a civil harassment restraining order is often faster and cheaper than a lawsuit. If the posts state specific false facts that are hurting your work or your life, you may have a defamation claim, but read about the one year deadline and the anti SLAPP risk before you decide. If the author is anonymous, a court can sometimes order the platform to reveal who it is. That process is explained in our unmasking guide.
The part nobody tells you
You can do every one of these things right and still have the post stay up. Under current law, even a court ruling that it is false does not require the website to take it down. Here is how that happened. That gap is why this campaign exists.
In the meantime, take care of yourself. Being targeted like this is exhausting and isolating, and it is not your fault.