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Pollen tried to remove my article about Callum Negus-Fancey, and Google is assisting to it
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- DeepHorus
A blogger has reported that Google removed his article about the collapse of events technology company Pollen from its search results, following what he describes as a fraudulent copyright infringement claim. The article, originally published in 2022, detailed the downfall of Pollen, a company that had raised significant funding before abruptly laying off staff and entering administration. The blogger, who holds copyright to the piece, argues that the takedown is an abuse of Google's DMCA notice system, possibly orchestrated by Pollen's founders to suppress negative coverage.
Pollen was founded by Callum Negus-Fancey and appeared to have weathered the COVID-19 pandemic, securing $150 million in fresh funding in April 2022. However, just three weeks later, the company laid off approximately 200 employeesâa third of its workforce. Despite reassurances from leadership, conditions deteriorated rapidly: wages went unpaid, pension contributions were missing, and vendors were left unpaid. Atlassian suspended JIRA in August 2022 due to nonpayment, and on August 10, 2022, Pollen collapsed into administration, leaving a trail of debt and controversy.
The BBC later produced a documentary titled Crashed: $800M Festival Fail, which examined the company's dramatic failure. Four years after the initial coverage, the blogger was stunned to receive a notification from Google that his article had been removed from search results due to a copyright claim. He stated, 'I am the only possible copyright owner,' and noted that the claim was filed by someone named 'Ellie Piee,' who alleged that his work copied a 1998 New York Post article titled 'Band Leader Hits Winning Chord.' The blogger found no overlapping sentences between the two pieces.
The incident highlights vulnerabilities in Google's DMCA takedown process, which can be weaponized by individuals or firms seeking to suppress unfavorable information. The blogger speculated that either Pollen or its former CEO Callum Negus-Fancey, or cofounder Liam Negus-Fancey, hired reputation management firms to file the bogus claim. He has since appealed the removal, but the lack of penalties for false filings raises concerns about the system's integrity.
Media watchdogs and digital rights advocates have long criticized the ease with which such notices can be submitted, often without verification of ownership. This case underscores the potential for censorship through copyright claims, particularly against independent journalists and bloggers. The blogger noted, 'Google's copyright removal system is clearly being abused, to a comical degree.'
As the appeal process unfolds, the incident serves as a cautionary tale about the fragility of online information access. With no resolution yet, the article remains absent from Google search results, despite its factual basis and the blogger's clear ownership. The outcome could set a precedent for how similar disputes are handled by the search giant, especially in cases involving public accountability reporting.
