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How to Remove Your Information from World-Check: Complete guide in 5 Steps
Being listed in World-Check can quietly disrupt your international business life — but the good news is that it can be fixed. We regularly assist clients whose profiles appear in Refinitiv World-Check due to outdated or misinterpreted information. Our experience demonstrates that this process is often successful, especially when approached systematically using a consistent five-step method.
The key to successful World-Check profile correction lies in combining compliance expertise with strategic digital-reputation management. The following five steps outline the process our experts use to maximize the likelihood of a successful profile adjustment or removal.
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We will promptly check World-Check and help you correct the status.
Step 1: Understand the Reason for Inclusion
Once you’ve confirmed that your name or company appears in Refinitiv World-Check, the first step is to carefully review the the World-Check profile itself. The document may look brief, but every line matters: it reflects how automated screening systems interpret your profile.
Most listings originate from open-source references — typically media mentions, regulatory notices, or archived public records. In Avagard Global’s practice, outdated or misleading online publications remain the single most common trigger for inclusion. A single unverified article, an old interview quoting a former title, or a blog repeating early speculation can keep a profile flagged for years, even when no violations ever occurred.
Most listings originate from open-source references — typically media mentions, regulatory notices, or archived public records. In Avagard Global’s practice, outdated or misleading online publications remain the single most common trigger for inclusion. A single unverified article, an old interview quoting a former title, or a blog repeating early speculation can keep a profile flagged for years, even when no violations ever occurred.
Understanding why your information appeared in World-Check is the foundation of any removal or correction strategy.
Typical reasons for inclusion:
- Outdated information — job titles, board memberships, or references that are no longer valid.
- Speculative media coverage — especially when repeated by secondary sources.
- PEP (Politically Exposed Person) status — often assigned automatically to former officials or executives of state-linked enterprises.
- False association with sanctioned entities — even indirect business or family connections.
According to Avagard Global’s internal review of recent projects, a significant share of profiles contain information that no longer reflects the individual’s actual circumstances — in some cases, material published over a decade ago continues to influence risk scoring.
We frequently encounter clients whose World-Check inclusion stems from old or poorly sourced publications. In such cases, identifying those media mentions becomes the turning point.
— Adrian Keller, Director at Avagard Global
A thorough analysis of the World-Check profile allows you to separate factual data from assumptions. Only after that can the process of World-Check profile adjustment and removal begin on solid ground.
Step 2: Assess the Digital Profile and Identify Risk Factors
After reviewing the Refinitiv World-Check extract, the next step is to analyze your digital profile — the information that compliance officers and screening algorithms will see when they verify your name. Most World-Check entries are generated from open-source data, which means what appears about you online directly affects how your risk level is perceived.
Outdated interviews, speculative news, and unverified claims can continue to circulate for years. Even if these pages have little visibility, they can still be indexed and referenced during background checks. That is why analyzing the full online footprint is essential before submitting any removal or correction request.
Outdated interviews, speculative news, and unverified claims can continue to circulate for years. Even if these pages have little visibility, they can still be indexed and referenced during background checks. That is why analyzing the full online footprint is essential before submitting any removal or correction request.
The goal is not only to identify clearly negative content but also to detect information that may increase your compliance risk through context or association.
A proper World-Check audit should include searches in all jurisdictions relevant to your profile — both your country of origin and countries where your financial or legal relationships are reviewed.
World-Check analysts and compliance departments often check client's online information in local languages, so overlooking non-English materials can result in missed risk triggers.
World-Check analysts and compliance departments often check client's online information in local languages, so overlooking non-English materials can result in missed risk triggers.
We often find that clients review their name only in English-language search results, while compliance teams check native-language and regional sources. This gap can prevent successful removal later.
— Adrian Keller, Director at Avagard Global
Even if you manage to remove a World-Check entry, the underlying information in open sources can cause it to reappear during the next database update. Therefore, every piece of irrelevant or outdated content needs to be located and addressed — whether by removal, clarification, or de-indexing.
A full digital-profile assessment creates the foundation for lasting results. By ensuring that your public data is accurate, consistent, and verifiable across languages and platforms, you reduce the chance of your World-Check profile being regenerated in the future.
A full digital-profile assessment creates the foundation for lasting results. By ensuring that your public data is accurate, consistent, and verifiable across languages and platforms, you reduce the chance of your World-Check profile being regenerated in the future.
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We will audit your digital profile and neutralize defamatory and irrelevant information on the network.
Step 3: Neutralize Outdated and Irrelevant Online Content
Once risk factors have been identified, the next step is to neutralize or correct the information that caused your inclusion in World-Check. Ignoring this stage is one of the most common reasons why removal requests fail — the same materials that triggered the listing continue to appear online and reinforce the database entry.
You cannot correct your World-Check record without first addressing the internet sources that shaped it.
At Avagard Global, we use a combination of methods to remove, clarify, or minimize the visibility of problematic content. This may include:
- Negotiation-based removal of false or outdated publications through direct contact with website editors or owners
- Legal mechanisms such as data-protection and defamation claims
- Deindexing from search engines, including the requests under the “right to be forgotten”
- Search engine suppression techniques to push unverified or outdated materials down in search results when removal is not possible.
We have seen many clients submit removal requests to Refinitiv while leaving outdated or defamatory links untouched. As long as those materials stay online, the record is likely to persist. Once the open-source issues are resolved, Refinitiv analysts are far more receptive to updates.
— Adrian Keller, Director at Avagard Global
By neutralizing or clarifying questionable information, you not only strengthen your position for the official review but also prevent future reappearance of the same World-Check entry during routine database updates.
Step 4: Ensure Relevant Information Dominates the Search Engines
After removing or suppressing outdated materials, the next step is to make sure that accurate and relevant information about you dominates search results.
Compliance departments and Refinitiv World-Check analysts rely heavily on open data. When the first pages of Google or Bing show clear, verifiable facts, it becomes far easier for analysts to validate that the original risk factors no longer exist.
Compliance departments and Refinitiv World-Check analysts rely heavily on open data. When the first pages of Google or Bing show clear, verifiable facts, it becomes far easier for analysts to validate that the original risk factors no longer exist.
When accurate information consistently appears first — in search results and AI-generated summaries — it reshapes how compliance systems evaluate your profile.
Creating visibility for truthful data is not about publicity. It’s about ensuring that verified, up-to-date context replaces outdated or speculative narratives.
Authoritative coverage in reputable business media, industry directories, or official company resources gives compliance officers confidence and helps World-Check analysts update your record more efficiently.
At Avagard Global, we have repeatedly seen how a strong, factual digital presence directly affects review outcomes.
In one case, our client’s World-Check profile still listed him as an executive at a state-owned company, even though he had left the position years earlier. By publishing verified updates in credible outlets and optimizing the visibility of those materials, we helped Refinitiv analysts confirm his current status and remove the PEP classification.
Authoritative coverage in reputable business media, industry directories, or official company resources gives compliance officers confidence and helps World-Check analysts update your record more efficiently.
At Avagard Global, we have repeatedly seen how a strong, factual digital presence directly affects review outcomes.
In one case, our client’s World-Check profile still listed him as an executive at a state-owned company, even though he had left the position years earlier. By publishing verified updates in credible outlets and optimizing the visibility of those materials, we helped Refinitiv analysts confirm his current status and remove the PEP classification.
Analysts don’t just read documents — they review what appears about you online. When verified data dominates the web, it also becomes what AI tools like ChatGPT reflect back in their summaries, strengthening your overall compliance profile.
— Adrian Keller, Director at Avagard Global
Maintaining control of your digital reputation today means shaping how both search engines and AI systems interpret your identity.
When relevant, truthful information leads the narrative, it minimizes uncertainty, builds compliance trust, and prevents misclassification in future database updates.
When relevant, truthful information leads the narrative, it minimizes uncertainty, builds compliance trust, and prevents misclassification in future database updates.
Step 5: Submit Your Request to World-Check
Once your online information is accurate and consistent, the final step is to prepare a formal request for correction or removal of World-Check profile.
This stage is procedural, yet it determines the outcome — a well-documented, evidence-based submission shows analysts that the information has been independently verified.
This stage is procedural, yet it determines the outcome — a well-documented, evidence-based submission shows analysts that the information has been independently verified.
Refinitiv will only update a record if the supporting documentation is complete, verifiable, and aligned with its internal data-quality standards.
Each case requires its own evidence package.
Typical materials include:
At Avagard Global, we help clients structure their submission so that every claim is supported by documentation from trusted third-party or official sources.
Our team combines legal, compliance, and digital-reputation expertise — ensuring that the narrative of correction is both factual and technically sound.
Typical materials include:
- identification documents and confirmation of current professional status;
- explanations of ownership, management, or business-activity changes;
- legal or corporate filings verifying the end of a PEP-related role;
- links or screenshots showing removal or correction of misleading sources.
At Avagard Global, we help clients structure their submission so that every claim is supported by documentation from trusted third-party or official sources.
Our team combines legal, compliance, and digital-reputation expertise — ensuring that the narrative of correction is both factual and technically sound.
We often receive draft requests that focus on personal opinions instead of verified evidence. Refinitiv’s analysts can only act on documented facts. A clear, structured submission with references to official sources significantly increases the chance of profile adjustment or removal
— Adrian Keller, Director at Avagard Global
How Avagard Global Can Help
Correcting or removing information from Refinitiv World-Check requires more than filling out a form — it demands a coordinated effort between compliance, legal, and digital-reputation work.
At Avagard Global, we bring these disciplines together to deliver predictable, verifiable results.
At Avagard Global, we bring these disciplines together to deliver predictable, verifiable results.
Our role is to bridge compliance and reputation — we translate facts into verifiable evidence and ensure that analysts see a clear, consistent picture.
— Adrian Keller, Director at Avagard Global
Beyond one-time correction, we help clients maintain a stable digital reputation that supports future due-diligence reviews.
By ensuring that accurate, relevant information dominates both search results and AI-driven summaries, we reduce the chance of outdated or misleading data reappearing in World-Check or other compliance systems. Avagard Global has successfully supported numerous high-profile individuals and leading companies in achieving full profile correction or removal.
Our work is discreet, evidence-based, and designed to help clients restore transparent access to international finance and business and rebuild compliance confidence for the long term.
By ensuring that accurate, relevant information dominates both search results and AI-driven summaries, we reduce the chance of outdated or misleading data reappearing in World-Check or other compliance systems. Avagard Global has successfully supported numerous high-profile individuals and leading companies in achieving full profile correction or removal.
Our work is discreet, evidence-based, and designed to help clients restore transparent access to international finance and business and rebuild compliance confidence for the long term.