How to remove a post from TheDirty

TheDirty posts rank on a person's name. A plain request often goes nowhere, so the route you choose matters.

What is TheDirty, and why do its posts rank?

TheDirty (thedirty.com) is a gossip site. Visitors submit posts about named people, often private individuals, and others add comments underneath. Each post gets its own page, and the name in the title is what search engines match.

That is why a post can sit near the top of a name search. It often comes with photos, and the comment thread keeps adding text. A recruiter, a client or a neighbor who searches the name sees it before anything else.

What can you do yourself?

Five steps, in order. None of them is certain to work, and the first two protect you whatever you decide next.

1. Save the evidence. Take a full-page screenshot that shows the URL and the date. Keep copies of the post and the comments. Every route below needs them.
2. Do not comment. A reply adds fresh text and traffic to the page and can invite more comments. Silence is the safer default.
3. Send a removal request. Use the site's contact route. Give the exact URL, say who you are, and state plainly what is wrong with the post, such as private information, a false statement of fact or images shared without consent. Keep it short and calm, and keep a copy.
4. Use Google's own tools for narrow categories. Google accepts removal requests for certain content in search results, such as personal contact information shared to harass someone, and explicit imagery shared without consent. These take the result out of Google. They do not take down the page. See how to remove your name from Google search.
5. Consider the legal route. A false statement of fact can be defamation, and a court order can be sent to the site and to Google. It takes time and money, and the poster is often anonymous. See how to prove online defamation and suing an anonymous online poster.

Why do requests to TheDirty often fail?

In the United States, Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act generally protects a website from liability for what its users post. A well-known federal appeals case involving the site, Jones v. Dirty World Entertainment Recordings (Sixth Circuit, 2014), found the site protected under it. So a post being false does not by itself oblige the site to remove it.

The practical result is that a plain request often goes nowhere, and the poster is hard to reach. Erase My Reputation is not a law firm and does not give legal advice. Matters that need legal action are referred to licensed counsel.

A post can be false and still stay up. The route you choose matters more than the truth of the post.

How does Erase My Reputation help?

Erase My Reputation works on the post at the source. We assess the exact URL first and tell you, before you spend anything, whether we expect to move it. Whether the post is accurate does not decide that. Items we decline are never billed, and where something cannot come down, we say so at assessment and discuss what can be done about its place in search.

A TheDirty post is non-review work under our terms. It is quoted per item, in writing, before you commit. It carries a deposit, and any accepted item still published 14 days after work begins is refunded in full. See the payment terms.

The work is discreet and confidential. We never name clients, and nothing is posted publicly. We actively monitor for reposts, and a removed post that returns is removed again at no charge for as long as you remain a client. If the problem is wider than one post, see reputation management for individuals, or compare pushing results down with removal.