No matter what industry you may work in, you are most likely subject to some sort of regulatory organization. These organizations exist to hold the members of that sector to a specific bar or to follow specific protocol and guidelines. Whenever standards are not met, that regulator may pose a violation or enforcement action upon you or your business. Sometimes that violation may be valid, and sometimes you may be associated with a misdeed someone else committed within your organization that you were not a part of. Or perhaps you or your business made a mistake many years ago and don’t want to be associated with something you have since learned from. While there is not much you can do to completely remove old regulatory violations from public record, it does not mean you have to let it damage your personal or professional reputation.
What are examples of industry regulators that post records?
- U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
- Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA)
- Federal Trade Commission (FTC)
- Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC)
- Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC)
- U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
- Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA)
- Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC)
- U.S. Consumer Product Safety (CPSC)
- Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)
- National Credit Union Administration (NCUA)
- Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA)
Some of these entities are controlled by the U.S. government and others are considered self-regulatory organizations within their respective industries. However, each of these entities can publish public records to the internet whenever there is a violation or misconduct against the code of that regulator.
Ways to Remove Regulatory Records from Online
The process may vary from organization to organization on what their specific policies may be. Many will not allow for the information to be taken down as their compliance controls require that violation information be readily accessible whenever anyone wants to do a search on that individual or business. However, there are a few steps you can take to help remove or reduce the amount of information that is shared online.
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Google yourself.
The first step is to understand what information is posted about you online. Try multiple searches including your name, where you live, employer, and the name of the industry regulator in concern. I.e. if you work in the finance industry, you could search “John Smith + SEC or John Smith + FINRA” to see what results populate.
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Take note of the search results.
What type of websites are hosting the negative information? If it is posted with that regulator’s website directly, the chances of having it removed are very small. However, if news sites or blogs published an article about the event, an online reputation management professional may be able to assist in the removal of those articles.
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Understand the violation or remarks that were published to the public.
What were the circumstances of the violation or remark that was published with your specific industry regulator? Many times, if the complaint or violation was false or made in error, you may be able to work with a legal team to have those disclosures removed permanently.
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Know your options to protect yourself.
In the event the regulatory organization does not allow for removal of the content from their website, consider seeking help from an online reputation management company to hide or “suppress” the information further down in Google search results. By suppressing the website(s) that host the negative information, those sites will be pushed further down into Google search results (page 2+), where people will be unlikely to search that deep to find that content.
How Reputation Resolutions Can Help
The best approach in dealing with any negative content is always to remove it from search results. At Reputation Resolutions, we have developed a range of strategies for removing and suppressing regulatory records in Google, and our team provides the fastest and most affordable solution for helping you regain control over your online reputation. Best of all, there’s no risk involved – due to our high success rate in removing or suppressing regulatory records from Google, we now only charge for this service on a pay-for-performance basis.
Why Trust Our Team
Reputation Resolutions is one of the few Reputation Management firms that have an “A” rating with the Better Business Bureau. In addition, Reputation Resolutions has been selected as one of the top 5 providers of online reputation management services in the industry by both greatagencies.com and topseos.com. To see reviews from past clients who have used our services, click here.
Get Started Today
If you are looking to remove or suppress a regulatory record from Google’s search results, please fill out the form below or call us today at 855-239-5322 to speak to one of our specialists.