Introducing Plagiarism Today’s Content Removal Policy

Plagiarism Today was launched in August 2005 and, since then, I’ve published over 5,400 posts dealing with plagiarism, copyright and issues related to those two topics.

When covering news or performing analysis on stories, it’s often necessary to discuss the people involved in those stories, including individuals accused of plagiarism, either rightly or wrongly.

But, while stories are often temporary or fleeting, the internet is forever. Google doesn’t forget, and the stories often follow individuals long after they’ve moved on. Either they have proved themselves to have learned from the experience or have moved into a different field where the story is irrelevant.

Though it’s extremely rare, I have been approached by several subjects of stories seeking removal of stories about them, citing concerns of job loss, embarrassment and other issues.

My policy in these cases has been to approach them with humanity. Though I strongly believe that plagiarism is a serious matter and that proper repercussions should be felt, I don’t necessarily believe that those repercussions should be permanent, at least not in all cases.

As such, over the years, I have developed a loose policy for handling these cases and I have used it to remove roughly half a dozen articles from search indexes. 

However, today, I want to take a moment and put that policy in writing. The reason is simple: To ensure consistency. The problem with an unwritten policy is that it is always changing and is very subjective. For something this important, I did not want that. 

To that end, here’s the policy (subject to updates) that I am applying to Plagiarism Today.

The Policy

This page will not be updated as the policy changes. If you are seeking to use this policy, please read the current version.

To be clear, Plagiarism Today does not remove articles from this site. Any content “removed” via this policy will remain available via direct link and search on this site. This policy solely deals with the de-indexing of articles from the major search engines via meta tags.

For a story to be considered for such de-indexing, several conditions must be met. 

1. We will not remove any articles where we have received advice from an attorney to not remove it. We will not go against legal counsel.
2. The article in question must be at least two years old.
3. There must be no ongoing interest or relevance in the article. This is determined by examining traffic statistics related to the article over the previous 6 months.
4. If the subject was accused of plagiarism with credibility, they need to provide proof either that they have moved into a new and unrelated field or have a good track record of work since the story was published.

Please bear in mind that all this process does is have us add tags to discourage indexing by search engines. We cannot control whether the search engines ignore those tags (though none of the major ones currently do) or if the story is found other ways. 

We also make no guarantees that errors (human or computer) will not result in the story reappearing in indexes. If that does happen, please reach out and we will do our best to rectify it. 

Removal is also not a guarantee against any future coverage. Should the same person be involved in another plagiarism or copyright-related story that this site would ordinarily discuss, it will be covered, and the previous story will be re-indexed. 

In short, though we will make every effort to de-index stories that meet these criteria and are approved, we make no promises or guarantees that the process will work or be permanent.

To apply for removal. Simply reach out using the Contact Page. Please be patient as it may take time to process each case. 

Bottom Line

When dealing with others on the internet, it’s easy to forget that we’re interacting with real people. It’s also easy to forget that our words and actions can have unintended consequences for others.

As I wrote in May, I’ve been shifting my focus to thinking about ways to help the victims of plagiarism. To that end, eternally “naming and shaming” a plagiarist is rarely productive.  Solutions such as the one we discussed in June 2022, which saw a filmmaker getting retroactive credit and a museum exhibit alongside a painting based on her work, are much more productive.

That said, plagiarism is a serious issue and it should have serious consequences. I don’t shy away from that in my writing. But I also recognize the power of the internet, and acknowledge that past mistakes can follow people long after it is necessary or even appropriate.

The goal of this policy is to balance taking plagiarism seriously and being humane in the treatment of others. 

To be clear, it is not a perfect policy. I am actively seeking feedback on it and ways to improve it. Please, if you have any thoughts or insight, contact me. 

If you are seeking to use this policy, please check the actual policy page to see the latest version, as this article will not be updated.

In the end, this is a policy that has been used roughly half a dozen times to date. Though I expect a few new submissions after publishing this, less than 0.2% of articles on this site have been impacted or likely will be impacted.

These are extreme edge cases, but edge cases I wanted to account for and plan for.