Google Takes Down Search Engine Land Article Following Dubious DMCA Claim

A Search Engine Land article was removed from Google's search results due to a questionable DMCA notice alleging copyright infringement.

3 min readTechnology

Google has removed a recent article from Search Engine Land, titled 'Clickout Media turned news sites into AI gambling hubs,' following a DMCA complaint that appears to lack merit. The complaint, filed on March 27, claimed that the article copied content verbatim and used proprietary images. However, the article in question contained no images, raising doubts about the validity of the claim. The complainant, identified as 'US Webspam,' provided no clear attribution. This incident follows a similar situation where Press Gazette's investigation into Clickout Media was also taken down after a nearly identical DMCA notice. The complaint falsely asserted that Press Gazette had infringed on a 2024 Verge article, despite no actual duplication. Google's policy is to remove content upon receiving valid copyright complaints, but this case highlights the potential misuse of DMCA takedowns to silence reporting on critical issues like search spam. As the situation develops, it remains to be seen whether the articles will be restored in search results.

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