Save the evidence, find the source of the error, and fix it there first: your site, your profiles or the third-party page. Then report it through the tool's own feedback route. No platform promises a correction, so expect to repeat this. If the claim causes real harm, get legal advice. Don't pay anyone who promises to make it vanish.
What should you do first?
Record it before you change anything. Note the exact question, the tool, the date and the full answer, with a screenshot and the cited sources. Then ask the same question a few more times, with a clean session and a slightly different wording. A one-off error needs a different response than one that keeps coming back.
Where does the error come from?
Open the sources behind the answer. That usually tells you what kind of problem you have, and each kind has its own fix.
| What you find | Likely cause | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| A cited page has the wrong facts | The source itself is wrong | Fix it if it's yours. Otherwise ask the owner to correct it |
| The cited page is right, the answer isn't | The AI misread or mixed things up | Report it, and make your statement on that page clearer |
| No source, or a different business | Confusion with a similar name, or stale knowledge | State your full name, location and activity plainly, and report it |
| Old prices or a former address | Outdated pages still online | Update or remove them, and redirect if needed |
"Likely" matters here. From outside you can see input and output, not what happened between them. Check what your site says to machines as well.
How do you report it on each platform?
| Platform | Official route | What it says about results |
|---|---|---|
| Google AI Overviews | Thumbs-down, then Report a problem, and add details | "AI Overviews can and will make mistakes" |
| Google Business Profile | Edit your verified profile | Google reviews changes before they go live |
| Google knowledge panel | Claim and suggest changes, or use Feedback | Checks against public information, and may not change what it can't confirm |
| ChatGPT | Thumbs-down feedback, or the report form for policy or legal problems | We found no dedicated correction route for businesses |
| Perplexity | Flag icon or a support ticket with query URL and the expected result | No outcome promised on that page |
Keep your report short and factual: what the answer says, what's correct, and a public URL that proves it. Reports without evidence are easy to set aside.
What if a person is named?
Personal data has its own route with OpenAI. Its privacy policy describes correction requests for factually inaccurate information, and warns that correction may not be possible in every instance. There's also a request form for removing personal data from responses. That applies to the person, not the company.
When does it become a legal matter?
When a false claim does real damage, for example an allegation of fraud or a statement that you've gone bankrupt. Keep your evidence and speak with a lawyer about your options. We can't advise on that. Google has a legal reporting route, and it notes that a policy report isn't a legal notice, so file separately if you need both.
How do you prevent it coming back?
- One version of the facts. Name, address, services and prices should match on your site and profiles
- A page that states the obvious. What you do, what you don't do, where you work. An llms.txt file can list the facts tools often get wrong, but it's no guarantee
- Clean up the past. Old domains, former brand names and outdated PDFs still count as sources
- A monthly check. Add the wrong answer to your test questions so that you can see whether it returns
If nothing changes after your fixes, don't conclude you failed. Tools update at their own pace, and you don't control that. Be wary of paid promises to remove an AI answer. Google's guidance warns about third-party claims of inside access to its systems.
