Has Google ever removed content of yours due to alleged copyright infringement?

[Knowlesgarry]

First 3 options

[MichaelCorfman]

Yesterday, June 12th, I received another DCMA complaint notice from filed with Google. I view this one as quite different than those I have received before. The complaint was about the following article published on my Casino City Times website:

Free Spins

The first aspect of this complaint that was different is that the article was one of more than 1,800 articles we have published written by John Grochowski, a very well known gaming strategy columnist who provided content to us for 25 years until he retired in 2024. A second aspect that was different is that the author has a Wikipedia page (wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Grochowski) that has stated "His articles can be found online at the Casino City Times website" since it was first created in 2006. Finally, the articles were provided to us under the terms of a contract that grants us continuing publication rights.

So, today I filed an appeal stating "I am not the owner, but I am authorized to use the content" with the following additional details:

The article identified in the complaint was published pursuant to a longstanding syndication arrangement between our company and the Frank Scoblete Network. Under that arrangement, articles were provided for publication by Frank Scoblete and authors working with him, including John Grochowski.

The article itself was published with a notice identifying the Frank Scoblete Network and Casino City Press as the exclusive web syndication outlet for the network.

Our publication of the article was based on our good-faith understanding that the material was provided for authorized publication pursuant to that syndication relationship. Accordingly, we believe the removal request is based on a mistake or misidentification of the material to be removed.

I have also retrieved the complaint from the Lumen database. What I found there was also very different than any complaint I have seen before. Rather than targeting a specific article or publisher, the complaint bundled together 32 seemingly unrelated URLs from a wide variety of websites, including casino portals, gaming guides, bonus sites, commercial websites, and even a government PDF.

https://onlygames.io/tag/na-inteligencje.html
https://onjn.gov.ro/wp-content/uploads/Onjn.gov.ro/Anun%C8%9Buri/64.Decizia-76/Anexanr.1ladecizianr.76din13.02.2026.pdf
https://bitcoinmagazine.nl/de/casino/online-casinos-ohne-lugas
https://i[redacted]a.pl
https://dr-lipp-shop.com/vavada-zerkalo-rabochee-naiti-po-nomeru-telefona
https://cazinoro.com/yep-casino
https://gameluster.com/our-100-best-indie-games-of-all-time
https://orex-rotomoulding.pl/kasyna/yep-casino-bonusy-bez-depozytu
https://pl.kodybonusowe.net/premia-pieniezna/15-euro-bez-depozytu
https://cgeci.com/bonus-z-brakiem-depozytu-dla-polakow-odbierz-swoj-nadprogram-za-rejestracje
https://esportnow.pl/online-casino-nederland/free-spins
https://www.esports.net/jp/wiki/guides/hottest-fortnite-skins
https://www.aduanalog.com.br/categoria/merhabet-giris
https://www.betbrain.com/nz/bonus-codes/ice-casino-bonus-codes
https://n[redacted]y.de.com
https://onlygames.io/gry/platformowki/ogien-i-woda-1-lesna-swiatynia.html
https://pl.topkasynoonline.com/cazeus-go
https://pl.kodybonusowe.net/casino/baxterbet-casino
https://www.wette.de/wettanbieter/neue-wettanbieter
https://mr-bet-germany.com/bonus
https://theclubhousecasino.com/en-row/promotions/wednesday
https://rankedboost.com/league-of-legends/synergy/braum
https://w[redacted]p.pl
https://rotolight.pl/kasyno-z-niskim-depozytem
https://zamsino.com/dk/hell-spin-casino
https://s[redacted]r.ru
https://a[redacted]o.pl
https://www.nonstopbonus.com/BB609116/30-Free-Spins-at-Energy-Casino
https://www.casinocitytimes.com/john-grochowski/article/free-spins-67087
https://v[redacted]e.app
https://rankedboost.com/elden-ring/lightning-damage-spells
https://silesiansteel.pl/888starz-casino-kod-promocyjny-2026

Michael

[ChRR]

I got a few in today and yesterday, google knows about this already and easy to appeal ...

Hello,
Thanks for reaching out to us.
We have reviewed your request to reinstate content that we removed in response to a copyright removal request. The law requires us to act expeditiously on removal requests. Upon review, however, we determined that the request was invalid, so we have restored access globally to the content at the URLs listed below:

Thanks,
The Google Team

they know about this ... and they know these requests are illegal ...

[WGL]

Yep I got one of these recently - but never actually had anything taken down by Google.

[MMM]

i got as well

[anthonysimmons]

It seems I got hundrds of complaints, but I only got one notification from Google today about this.

Complaints are mase by some individuals and various game providers are mentioned in all complaints.

I only checked few so far and Google removed one URL from search (complaint was received 6 April on that URL).

Thisnis first time I have this kind of issue.

Anyone knows exactly how to make an appeal (Counter Notice)?

[universal4]

Anyone knows exactly how to make an appeal (Counter Notice)?

Read this thread, has been answered with examples.

Rick
Universal4

[PaulEchere]

Got a claim from Google today as well.

Stating that one of my bookmaker review pages (ironically one that was 100% hand-written pre-AI) is stolen content.
The details of the claim were in Greek and were pretty much gibberish, when translated it says:

I am writing to demand the immediate removal of my protected work from your online resources, as your unauthorized use of this material constitutes a serious violation of my rights. My original text is being displayed without my permission, and this is causing me professional harm. I expect this matter to be resolved immediately by removing the content without delay.


I don't quite get how a claim like that, can even be considered as valid to remove a URL from index?

[ocreditor]

Got a claim from Google today as well.

Stating that one of my bookmaker review pages (ironically one that was 100% hand-written pre-AI) is stolen content.
The details of the claim were in Greek and were pretty much gibberish, when translated it says:

I am writing to demand the immediate removal of my protected work from your online resources, as your unauthorized use of this material constitutes a serious violation of my rights. My original text is being displayed without my permission, and this is causing me professional harm. I expect this matter to be resolved immediately by removing the content without delay.


I don't quite get how a claim like that, can even be considered as valid to remove a URL from index?

Most of the copyright complaints sent through Google these days are fraudulent. You should simply file the appeal using the link Google provided in the email:


Just click the link and explain to Google that the complaint is false, that the content belongs to you, and that there is no copyright infringement.
Google usually responds quite fast to these appeals now. They have become much more efficient with this process, and in most cases, once the appeal is accepted, your content will be restored to the index.

[PaulEchere]

I actually also read up on a bunch of other posts here and in addition to getting that claim from Google, I realized a wholew bunch of genuinely good hand-written pages were deindexed.

[allfreechips]

Thats the issue the pages you do NOT know are de indexed

[lesmachinesasous]

Hey everyone, jumping in because I'm dealing with the exact same issue.

The whole counter-notice process is broken in a very specific way. Here's the loop I keep getting stuck in:

• Your URL gets deindexed by a fraudulent DMCA notice
• You file a counter-notification. It works. Google reinstates the URL.
• A few days later, new fraudulent notices targeting the same URL keep pouring in and re-suppress it.
• You file another counter-notification for the same URL and now Google replies: "Your reinstatement request has already been processed or is being processed for the following URLs. For future notifications, please do not submit URLs already sent."

At that point you're cooked. You can't submit again, but the fake DMCAs keep stacking. The URL stays dead while you watch new Lumen notices pile up daily.

This is being called "DMCA stacking" or "algorithmic hostage taking" well summarized in this article (sorry, first post here, can't post clickable links) :
linkedin.com/pulse/algorithmic-hostage-taking-exposing-stacking-loophole-georg-heinrich-ha3ff/

Someone already raised the broader issue on the Google support forum here, with a great writeup:
support.google.com/webmasters/thread/433028305/massive-fraudulent-dmca-negative-seo-attack-on-official-brand-domain?hl=en

The problem is this seems to mostly hit the iGaming niche, so it's hard to get traction in front of the right Google team. If anyone here has contacts at Google or knows how to escalate beyond the standard counter-notice form, please share. We probably need to coordinate noise on that support thread to get a human Googler involved.

Anyone found a workaround for the "already processed" lockout?

[allfreechips]

Well cleaned up a lot but got 2 hits on my free spins page today, at least google let me know.. Ongoing struggle

[MMM]

received 20 today in 2 hours. one every few minutes

[PaulEchere]

Oh and I just got 2 more today for two other websites that are connected to my GSC - one of them is even an actual casino operator website.

[TheGooner]

Notifications from google today about six submitted in April.
They included about 10 other random sites in each submission.

All totally bogus ... no content from the "affected parties" at all on site.
Submitted rebuttals - reinstatement coming through -but it takes 5-10 minutes each time

I looked up the first one in detail ...
Complainant - Relax Gaming - Tammie Jordan from Nauru .... right - that sounds genuine for an Estonia company.

[invinciblepoker]

dealing with fake dmca requests from clickoutmedia/coinpoker
fuckin clowns

[invinciblepoker]

the latest in the wave of fake DMCA crap going around: Pokerindustrynews.com received fake DMCA takedowns on their Spyware exposé on Coinpoker

probably dickout media at work.
Yawn

[PaulEchere]

How long does it take to get anything back after submitting a counter notice? I submitted two already a week ago and haven't had anything back. All the while, the pages just sit there deindexed

[allfreechips]

usually 15 minutes... if you do one at a time, seems bulk is bad. Then after 20 days they should put them back with lack of law suite but they dont.. i send emails with their terms on re-instating, its listed in this thread