Mike Munter, operating his Affordable Reputation Management channel, and Matt Peters, who leads SearchManipulator, actively promote a non-existent service: guaranteed removal of negative content from the independent watchdog site BehindMLM. Their joint YouTube video, titled "BehindMLM Removal Is Guaranteed In A Couple Weeks," falsely claims they can scrub critical articles.
In the video, Peters asserts that his "removal contractors" possess an insider connection to BehindMLM. He claims these contacts have successfully deleted content from the site. Peters specifically tells Munter, "He had success with getting it removed. It took about two weeks to do and twelve months later no issues it stayed off there. True to their word." No such insider connection exists, and these claims of successful content deletion are entirely unfounded.
Peters later undermines his own pitch when pressed on whether BehindMLM removes content or merely de-indexes it. He chooses de-indexing. This distinction is crucial for understanding the deceptive nature of his service. De-indexing means search engines like Google or Bing remove specific pages from their results, often through processes like a disavow tool or manual requests to the search engine. It does not involve the actual deletion of content from the original website. BehindMLM takes no action in these cases. Peters either fundamentally misunderstands how online content and search engines operate, or he deliberately obscures this technical difference to mislead potential clients.
BehindMLM maintains a clear, publicly stated policy regarding content. The site explicitly ignores all reputation management requests, a stance detailed on its contact form. Despite this, scammers and embattled companies frequently attempt to suppress critical coverage. Common tactics include filing fraudulent Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) takedown notices with hosting providers, which are often baseless and designed to intimidate. Others engage in sophisticated search engine manipulation, attempting to push negative results further down search rankings. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) previously cited one such suppression attempt in a federal securities fraud lawsuit, underscoring the legal ramifications of these deceptive practices.
Munter adds another unfounded claim, suggesting BehindMLM profits from content removal. He points to the site's recently added contribution button. "When you first open up this site they ask for a donation. Which is odd to me," Munter says. "Seems like the real source of income is people paying them to remove content." This interpretation misrepresents the button's purpose entirely.
The contribution button was introduced with full transparency. Its explicit goal is to support independent journalism and fund ongoing investigative reporting into schemes like the GSPartners Ponzi, which now operates as GSPro. It exists to sustain critical reporting, not to finance a content removal racket. No link exists between donations and article deletions, nor is there any mechanism for paid content removal.
The site's publishing history further contradicts Munter and Peters' assertions. BehindMLM has published 9,274 articles to date, all authored by a single writer without AI assistance. Of these nearly ten thousand articles, fewer than five have ever been voluntarily removed. This represents an astonishingly low 0.0005 percent of the site's total output. One removal, occurring almost a decade ago, involved scammers spoofing corporate email addresses to make a fraudulent request. Another followed extensive discussions with a reader and specific factual corrections. These rare instances do not indicate a pattern of paid removal services.
The pattern of deception from Munter and Peters is consistent. They market content removal services to desperate MLM operators and individuals seeking to erase negative online records. These clients often face significant financial and reputational damage from their involvement in questionable schemes. Munter and Peters invent claims of insider access to BehindMLM and misrepresent how search engines operate. They fabricate success stories to entice clients into paying for a promised outcome that never materializes.
Clients pay for a service that delivers nothing but empty promises, leaving them with financial losses and unchanged online reputations. As of May 2024, Mike Munter's YouTube channel continues to host the misleading video, promoting these non-existent removal capabilities.