I have been following the recent investigations into Soft2Bet, and the whole affair raises serious questions about how companies try to manipulate both the media and the law. The core of the issue began when a collaborative of journalists from Investigate Europe published an exposé linking the gambling company Soft2Bet to over 100 blacklisted online casinos across Europe . Instead of a standard legal or PR response, Soft2Bet’s owner, Uri Poliavich, reportedly launched a campaign under the US Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) .
They filed more than 60 fraudulent DMCA takedown requests with Google. The tactic involved copying the original journalistic articles, posting them on other platforms like Tumblr, and backdating them, and then claiming the original journalists had stolen their work . This was a coordinated attempt to have the critical reporting removed from Google's search results. This strategy was temporarily successful, causing articles to disappear from searches in countries like Greece, Poland, and Estonia . A German MEP, Tiemo Wölken, has even raised the issue in the European Parliament, calling for better protection of journalistic work against such abuse .
This case is significant because it shows how a US law designed to protect copyright is being weaponized to censor journalism, particularly by companies facing scrutiny . The fact that this campaign was orchestrated as the company seeks to enter the lucrative American gambling market reveals a troubling pattern of prioritizing reputation laundering over accountability . It is a stark example of how facts can be made to “disappear” when powerful actors abuse legal loopholes. More on this at the website.
