Every day, careers (and lives) are derailed by social media posts—sometimes ones from over a decade ago. In our polarized world, a forgotten share, outdated opinion or controversial view can trigger red flags that lead to job loss, rescinded college acceptances, professional ostracism, and lasting reputational damage.
You’re Being Watched
Many people aren’t aware that professional social media screening companies, investigative firms and employers routinely conduct pre-employment background checks by reviewing your online presence. They can also maintain a constant AI monitoring of your social media activity. Such services are widely used by enterprise companies and law enforcement agencies. Their goal is to ensure that new hires are not risks — from safety and security to organizational culture and reputation. And, to ensure current employees won’t post opinions that will cause reputation backlash against the company.
These screening services use AI to identify and flag publicly available, user-generated content in four main categories:
Racist, Sexist, or Discriminatory Behavior
Sexually Explicit Material
Threats or Acts of Violence
Potentially Illegal Activity
Journalists also review the social media content posted by people who are high-profile new hires, or in the news for other reasons.
Common Mistakes
Seeking shock value. Controversial posts for attention often backfire professionally.
Ignoring privacy settings. Many users don’t realize their posts are public or fail to adjust settings properly.
Forgetting your audience. What’s funny to friends may be career-ending to hiring managers.
Protect Yourself Now
Audit your privacy settings. Don’t assume accounts are private by default. Review settings on every platform. Before sharing anything online, consider:
How does this behavior impact my workplace or professional reputation?
Might this be seen as controversial by someone outside my network?
If this were said out loud in an office setting, would it cause concern?
Does this represent my ethical values in a positive way?
Could this create the perception of a hostile or unpleasant environment?
Could this result in a safety risk for me?
The Bottom Line
Approximately 70% of U.S. employers are believed to review candidates’ social media. While formal background checks require consent, many employers screen profiles informally. Anything publicly available can be found and used against you—just like emails and texts.
Your digital footprint is permanent. Protect it like you’d protect your resume, because in today’s world, it’s just as important.
Don Aviv, CPP, PSP, PCI is President of Interfor International, a corporate intelligence agency. He is also a Reputation Communications Advisory Board member. This article is republished from his original LinkedIn version.
Today, nearly everything is digitized, and finding personal data about people is fairly easy. Most of us do not even realize just how much of our personal data is available for the world to see. And while the world may not be interested, you never know when a malicious actor or hacker can find your information and put it to ill-use.
People-search sites like Intelius, Pipl, and Whitepages comb through social media accounts, public records, and commercial sources. They neatly package the information and provide it to just about anyone. Information can include criminal records, credit history, past and present addresses, relatives, and more.
The Dangers of People Search Sites
On the surface, people-search sites might seem harmless, a good tool for finding lost relatives or reconnecting with old friends. However, searches can also lead to easier stalking or harassment, identity theft, and the general revelation of information that you would rather keep private.
What makes these sites even more dangerous is that there is no current regulation surrounding data brokerage. The sites are not regulated and individuals can not choose privacy settings. Your information is out there for anyone to see.
The risks of people-search sites are why many people want to scrub their names from them completely. But doing so is not as easy as just wanting it. Even if you manage to scrub your name off at one point, the information is likely to reappear. That is why scrubbing your personal info should be looked at as an ongoing project, not as something you do once and forget about.
Professional Services That Scrub Personal Data
Scrubbing your information from various sites and search engines can be a long, arduous task, which is why there are several companies that offer to do it for you, including DeleteMe,PrivacyDuck, and OneRep. DeleteMe offers one and two-year plans to remove people from all major data broker websites for 1 year. For one person and one year, the service costs $10.75 a month billed annually. For one person for two years, the cost is $8.71 a month, billed once every two years. There is also a Family plan that covers up to four people and costs $27.42 a month for one year.
PrivacyDuck operates on a different payment/plan scheme. There are two plans: Basic for $499 and VIP Privacy for $999. The basic plan covers 91 data sources and up to two people. It delivers monthly reporting for 12 months and offers 50% off the same plan if you buy it more than once a year. The VIP Privacy plan is more comprehensive and covers 190 sources. It also delivers monthly reports.
OneRep removes personal information from Google, Yahoo, Bing, and other search engines. Its standard plans for individuals and families include links to exposed sites, auto opt-out of 105 sites, 24/7 email support, and more. The Individual plan costs $8.33 a month for one year and the Family plan for up to 6 people costs only $15 a month for a year. OneRep also offers a more advanced, comprehensive service for “complex cases” for $225 a month.
As you can see, this type of service is not cheap, especially if you are serious about your privacy. But is it worth it? Only you can decide. Continue on to see if you are up to the task of a DIY data scrub. If you feel that erasing your data by yourself is too difficult, it may be worthwhile choosing a paid service.
DIY Data Scrub
Most data brokerage sites offer an opt-out page, which means scrubbing your data is not necessarily hard, it is just tedious. It means going to many different sites and finding the opt-out page for each. If you feel up to the task, we suggest beginning with the most well-known people-search sites. These include Intelius, BeenVerified, Instant Checkmate, MyLife, PeopleFinders, Whitepages, Pipl, and a few more.
The first step is to check whether your information is listed. If it is, you then need to search around the site and find out how each broker allows you to opt-out. This is a great resource that provides opt-out links for various people-search sites. Be aware, even though we are living in the digital age, some sites require you to send a letter by mail or even fax. Ironic, yes.
Another point of irony: Some sites ask you to provide personal information in order for them to remove your data. If this is the case and you are asked to provide an ID document, make sure to erase any ID numbers that appear on it.
Recently Don Aviv, President of Interfor International and a Reputation Communications Advisory Board member, and Shannon Wilkinson, our founder and CEO, were interviewed on the topic of reputation management for an Interfor Academy webinar. Their moderator was Jeremy Hurewitz, Head of Interfor Academy.
Interfor Academy is a speaker’s bureau that enables organizations to book elite presenters for conferences, corporate off-sites, or risk trainings & tabletop sessions.
Don and Shannon come from two different sides of reputation management. He is on the investigative, data research, analytics, and monitoring side, helping organizations listen to conversations about them online and red flagging any that have reputational, privacy, or security risk aspects. (We interviewed him on the topic of due diligence in 2018; and more recently published his article, Scrubbing Your Personal Info from the Internet.) Reputation Communications, manages, amplifies and repairs reputations.
We are interviewing him about due diligence investigations, self-checks (or reverse due diligence), and how the deep dark web plays a role in threatening reputations.
How common is it now for deep dives to be done before important hires and partnerships are made?
It is increasingly common. That’s the good news for those of us who campaign constantly for companies to pay attention to reputational and security risk. The difference is in the level of diligence done and making a smart decision about that and what role the individual will play in any sort of company or partnership that is being established.
There is a fast-growing array of technological tools that can help employers get comfortable with low to mid-level hires. That sort of background check is cheap and somewhat effective. These are commoditized services that can give an employer a little reassurance that their prospective employee doesn’t have a criminal record, hasn’t declared bankruptcy, and did indeed graduate from the educational institution they are claiming on their resume.
But when it comes to more senior hires, or major investments being made and partnerships established, it is critical to go much deeper and try to understand the individual’s background and character at a more granular level, and drill down on any red flags to weigh those against whatever that person might contribute to what you’re building. So, in these cases, the more commoditized checks are insufficient.
Those who retain Interfor do so because our analysts have extensive experience in locating and evaluating deep dive public records and providing insight into what they find. True expertise comes into play when it comes to the very human side of collecting qualitative intelligence on a subject.
You used the term reputational “self-checks” during the webinar. What do you mean by that?
We are frequently hired by clients who want to know what their reputational assessment looks like and what might be used against them by someone looking to do them harm – physically or reputationally.
Your firm conducts social media threat monitoring for major corporations as well as for high-net-worth clients. How does that work, and what are they looking for?
While we certainly support HNW clients and celebrities around the world, we also support a large group of executives, nonprofits, foundations and start-ups. That client base includes any entity or individual that receives negative or unwanted attention through social media, chatgroups, blogs, and other online chatter. We have a global team of highly trained analysts who monitor threats 24/7 for a variety of companies and individuals across all common languages. They are deeply knowledgeable in assessing when someone might turn from an online troll to a true threat. They help identify new threat trends and help clients be proactive in preparing for any incipient risk.
How is AI going to impact what information appears on the internet about people and organizations?
AI will certainly be a force of change. We have seen a remarkable uptick in fraudulent activity ranging from Deepfakes and impersonations, all the way to confidence scams and straight-up harassment and trolling driven purely through AI systems.
For example, one of our clients, a well-known radio personality, has been inundated with thousands of fake product endorsements and ads geared at defrauding his listener base around the world. Our Social Media Threat Monitoring Team identifies and works to knock down approximately 50 fake ads and websites a week, yet this is likely a drop in the bucket.
Ultimately, without strong regulations, AI systems may add considerable fuel to the “fake news” ecosystem, and your average internet user will have even more trouble discerning fact from fiction.
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As President of Interfor International, Don Aviv directly supports Chief Security Officers and General Counsel of some of the leading corporations, financial institutions and family offices around the world.
An author on physical security, threat mitigation and corporate security matters, he serves as an expert witness on security-related legal matters. His credentials include Board Certified Protection Professional (CPP); Board Certified Physical Security Professional (PSP); Professional Certified Investigator (PCI) and licensed New York State Investigator. He is an executive board member of Strength-to-Strength, a non-profit organization dedicated to supporting victims of terrorism. Mr. Aviv is also a board member of The Community Security Service, a non-profit organization dedicated to training and protecting local communities.
On May 21, 2024, Reputation Communications Advisory Board member Don Aviv, President of Interfor International, and I discussed a variety of ways to manage your reputation, assess the reputation of those you might do business with, and some common mistakes we encounter in these areas.
This was part of a continuing series of webinars presented by Interfor Academy, a new speaker’s bureau that enables organizations to book elite presenters for conferences, corporate off-sites, or risk trainings & tabletop sessions. The conversation will be moderated by head of Interfor Academy, Jeremy Hurewitz, and should be a compelling look at this vital and constantly evolving subject.
Interfor Academy is a new speaker’s bureau that enables organizations to book elite presenters for conferences, corporate off-sites, or risk trainings & tabletop sessions.
These experts include a former head of the CIA’s CounterTerrorism Center; a former Chief Hostage Negotiator at the FBI, and a former Head of the US Secret Service, among others. As a leader in reputation management, I am a speaker providing must-know facts and strategies about that always-in-demand topic.
Every Interfor Academy expert is a compelling and deeply experienced public speaker ready to take the stage or speak to your team on their own. Interfor Academy can combine these experts to create one-of-a-kind panels, fireside chats, and team interviews curated to address issues specific to your needs.
With close to 50 years of service to its clients, Interfor, a global investigative and security consulting firm led by our Advisory Board member Don Aviv, has developed unique knowledge and skills that its clients depend on. Now with the launch of Interfor Academy, Interfor is able to directly share some of those skills in a different way with its clients to expand their communication skills, provide essential education tools, and entertain while informing at corporate retreats, conferences, or other functions.
Whether you’re a conference organizer looking for that compelling speaker to keep your audience on the edge of their seats, a top executive looking to add a memorable guest to bring an unforgettable experience to your corporate retreat, or a human resources officer focused on training your team against security risks, Interfor Academy will create a unique and customized experience for you.
Recently, leaked documents obtained by Forbidden Stories revealed the inner world of Eliminalia, a Spanish reputation management company. Forbidden Stories and partners investigated the company’s manipulation tactics to remove public-interest information from the internet.
Interfor International, the investigative firm helmed by our Advisory Board member Don Aviv, blogged about Forbidden Stories’ findings. The excerpts below raise awareness of the dirty tactics used by some reputation management agencies, and why it may pay to steer clear of them. That’s especially true if they promise to remove online content, a challenge we have written about here (and here).
Weaponizing Data Protection Regulations
Those who have studied Eliminalia’s strategy identified a pattern. When an article that included unpleasant truths about one of their clients appeared, the company began by sending takedown requests to the journalist, usually through a team member employing a false persona. If the journalist refused to remove their article, Eliminalia went after hosting providers, often weaponizing data protection laws such as the DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act), which was created in 2002 to protect copyrighted content, and the GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation), an EU privacy and human rights law, to push the provider to take down the material.
To exploit the DMCA, for example, they would copy an article, publish it on a third-party website with a falsified earlier date than the original and then claim the real article infringed on the law. Contesting a false claim of DMCA is not easy, leading to long and expensive legal battles many journalists are unable to afford.
Investigators found that if these methods did not work, Eliminalia would then try to hide the material through “deindexing,” which attempts to fool Google into hiding search terms from web results.
Throwing ‘Digital Atomic Bombs’
Eliminalia has used the strategy of “open redirects,” links that appear to drive traffic to legitimate websites but redirect to other fake sites.
At least 622 such websites have been identified. To make the sites appear legitimate, the company mixes content from real sources with positive information about individuals with the same names as their clients.
This method seems to have been successful at influencing Google’s search results, effectively making articles that include allegations against the company’s clients disappear, while replacing them with positive spin.
Now, Eliminalia and their clients are in the news, and many of their “removed” links and content are back on Google.
Eliminalia is far from the first reputation management firm to create fake news sites to post fake content on. That has been done from the onset of this industry, along with a myriad of ways to post links in places where unwitting internet users would click on, thinking they were clicking on something else.
The problem with using reputation management providers who game the system using what are known as “black hat” methods is that their handiwork is often discovered and undone by Google. You also risk the chance of being identified as a client in investigative articles about them (check out the 2020 Wall Street Journal article, Google Hides News, Tricked by Fake Claims.)
Reputation management for entities is particularly relevant these days as the whole world watches the Twitter saga unfolding.
With the social media giant in freefall and its new boss Elon Musk pushing his own inscrutable agenda, the question of how organizations can effectively manage reputations during times of change or crisis should be front of mind for the leadership of any organization paying attention.
Since Musk took the reins of the social media giant, Twitter has faced major challenges such as users and advertisers fleeing the platform and senior employees jumping ship. The mass layoffs the company has endured and the media circus accompanying every action has exacerbated the hit to Twitter’s brand.
The situation could become more volatile.
It is still not clear what Musk’s vision for success with Twitter is, and there are plenty of reasons to be skeptical of his ability to dig himself out of the deep hole he has dug himself, despite the success of Tesla and Space X.
Perhaps this is a case in which we can examine how an organization can learn how to manage its reputation in the public eye… and come out even stronger.
The current imbroglio that Twitter finds itself in is an extreme situation where the world’s richest man has acquired the world’s public square and the result is a stunning explosion of brand value. But observant companies can still learn valuable lessons from this fiasco about how to manage their reputation in the public eye, and even come through stronger when faced with significant challenges.
What it is, and why it matters
Reputation management is often defined as the practice of influencing stakeholder perceptions and public conversations about an organization and its brands. It includes monitoring perceptions and conversations, responding to reputation threats and proactively seizing opportunities to boost reputation.
Reputation management is more challenging for an organization with many moving parts, as opposed to individuals or small businesses which can monitor reputations online by tracking news, reviews, and social media.
A larger organization, especially a publicly traded company, must manage expectations of shareholders and multiple partners, so reputation management becomes complex. But there are steps organizations can take to put their best foot forward online, in the media, and to their customers.
What can organizations do to protect their reputations?
Companies can take several steps to manage their reputation on an organizational level. A positive reputation can take years to build and a few minutes to ruin. There is always the risk that one misinterpreted tweet or post can cause a maelstrom on social media, so it is best to consider the following actions, all of which can be done preemptively.
– Be as transparent as possible in communications and with your audience.
Of value today in an organization is the ability to be transparent and own a mistake. Brands are as fallible as people, and as creators and influencers continue to be the face of organizations, brands will continue to strive to be perceived as relatable. This is especially true for Gen Z, who grew up on screens and understand which brands are authentic.
-Be diverse, but really embrace diversity
A lot of lip service surrounds diversity these days, with limited real action often taken in organizations. The best way to change is to promote diversity in your organization (including diversity of thought). Work to build diverse teams and share with your community what you’re doing, particularly the wins of team members.
-Be good to your employees
As we’re seeing with Twitter, Musk’s behavior and communication style is driving many employees away. His direct and abrasive style is self-selecting for employees who value his style of management, but the optics (as covered in the media) are not great. In general, people do talk, so being good to your employees will help generate good will.
These are three important points for reputation management on an organization level, but attention must also be paid to your online presence. In Twitter’s case, this is less relevant as they are a social media company. But most companies have a robust digital footprint which needs to be monitored.
Steps for a better online presence:
-Prepare a digital strategy
As the saying goes, “failing to plan, means planning to fail,” so having some kind of plan is key. The online world is dynamic, but the good news is you can gauge feedback immediately and understand trends with easily accessible analytics.
-Make your website (and social media) the authority
There is often an educational component to the service or product you market. With so much noise online and everyone jockeying to be an “expert,” building a presence with authority and developing content such as testimonials, data, and media links will help you stand out. The more authority you have online and the more transparent your communication, the better your reputation will be.
-Have conversations with your customers
Your customers are your lifeblood and engaging with them (and the comments they post) can help spot challenges which may arise. Taking that extra step is also key in building brand loyalty with your community.
From serving CEOs and entrepreneurs to law firms and multinational financial companies, the mission of managing our clients’ reputational risk and shaping how the world sees them and their brands, remains our constant focus.
Keeping this in mind, I want to highlight the members of our Advisory Board. They are leaders and innovators who offer a breadth of expertise from the top levels of their fields.
Scott B. Alswang is a security expert with two decades of experience serving for the United States Secret Service, providing protection services for every U.S. president from Ronald Reagan to George W. Bush. He is Chief Sales Officer at Titan Health & Security Technologies, Inc.
Don Aviv is a security expert and licensed investigator with extensive experience in crisis mitigation, risk management and complex investigations. He is President of the corporate intelligence agency Interfor International, a global investigation, corporate intelligence and security consulting firm serving the legal, corporate and financial communities.
David Niccolini is the COO of Evidencity, a platform for records retrieval and local insight in over 160 countries around the world. Prior to joining Evidencity, Mr. Niccolini co-founded TorchStone in 2010.
Rena Paul is the co-founder of Alcalaw LLP, a women-founded law firm that represents companies, schools and individuals in crisis, particularly those involving sexual misconduct and other sensitive matters. A former federal and state prosecutor, Rena has 15 years of private and public sector experience in investigations, litigation and appellate work.
Christine Rafin, Esq. specializes in Internet, communications and media law. She is General Counsel – Media for a360 Media, LLC in New York where she advises the company on defamation, privacy, intellectual property and publicity issues for a wide range of brands, including podcasts, tv specials, online publications and magazines.
Jed Weiner is Head of Corporate Practice at Mei & Mark LLP. He advises emerging and seasoned companies and investors in corporate finance transactions, mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, board matters, corporate governance, corporate compliance and other issues. He is the founder of grIP Venture Studio.
Their expertise helps us understand how to face the current challenges of a 24/7 information-driven age.
About You(Online)
Reputation Communications publishes You(Online) to help educate CEOs, C-Suite executives, rising stars and high net worth individuals about online reputation management.
Reputation Reboot addresses real-life online reputation management (ORM) challenges faced by CEOs, executives, VIPs and their organizations. Unless they are public figures, their names and related descriptions of all individuals and companies discussed are changed to protect their privacy. For a quick look at the types of situations facing many professionals, scroll down and check out the headlines.
Online reputation management enables you to take more ownership over what appears about you on the Internet.
Without it, the world controls how you look online.
Here are ten examples of the ways online reputation management is used by individuals, companies and organizations.
To ensure up-to-date and accurate information dominates search results for an organization or individual’s name.
To ensure that factual, credible reference material is readily available online.
That reduces the chance that fraudulent information will impact a brand.
To remove unwanted or inappropriate information, photographs or other content from the first few pages of Google search results.
To monitor social media and online forums for red flags signaling potential on- and offline threats against high-profile individuals and their organizations.
To create a strong online presence about a topic.
That presence acts as a barrier against potential distortions from third-party content, including anonymous and defamatory material. Without it, such items can go straight to the top of searches – and stay.
To ensure that your story is told by you and not by former partners or other potentially biased parties.
To establish a reputation within your area of expertise on multiple online platforms.
To create an online legacy for a VIP who is preparing for retirement or to exit an organization.
