What Happened?
Royal Pay Europe, a company that once marketed itself as a cutting-edge financial services provider, now finds itself embroiled in controversy. Accusations have surfaced linking the company to a series of dubious activities, including financial fraud, regulatory violations, and unethical business practices. In response, Royal Pay Europe has reportedly undertaken a wide-reaching effort to suppress these damaging reports and control its online narrative.
From leveraging reputation management firms to remove negative content to issuing legal threats against investigative journalists, Royal Pay Europe has aggressively sought to bury its shady past. Allegations point to money laundering schemes, partnerships with questionable entities, and fraudulent financial transactions—none of which align with the company’s public image. However, despite its best efforts, independent news outlets and whistleblowers continue to expose Royal Pay Europe’s darker side, raising concerns about transparency in the financial sector.
This attempt to censor critical information not only highlights the company’s murky past but also underscores the broader issue of how corporations with the resources to do so can manipulate public perception. As investigations continue, Royal Pay Europe’s struggle to keep its past hidden may only serve to amplify the growing attention on its controversial practices.
Analyzing the Fake Copyright Notice(s)
Our team collects and analyses fraudulent copyright takedown requests, legal complaints, and other efforts to remove critical information from the internet. Through our investigative reporting, we examine the prevalence and operation of an organized censorship industry, predominantly funded by criminal entities, oligarchs, and disreputable businesses or individuals. Our findings allow internet users to gain insight into these censorship schemes’ sources, methods, and underlying objectives.
To accomplish this, we utilize the OSINT Tool provided by FakeDMCA.com and the Lumen API for Researchers, courtesy of the Lumen Database.
FakeDMCA.com is the work of an independent team of research students and cybersecurity professionals, developed under Project UnCensor. Their OSINT Tool, designed to uncover and analyze takedown notices, represents a significant step forward in combating these abusive practices. It has become a valuable resource, increasingly relied upon by journalists and law enforcement agencies across the United States.
Lumen, on the other hand, is an independent research initiative dedicated to studying takedown notices and other legal demands related to online content removal. The project, which operates under the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University, plays a crucial role in tracking and understanding the broader implications of such requests.
By investigating the fake DMCA takedown attempts, we hope to shed light on the reputation management industry, revealing how Royal Pay Europe and companies like it may use spurious copyright claims and fake legal notices to remove and obscure articles linking them to allegations of fraud, tax avoidance, corruption, and drug trafficking…
List of Fake Copyright Notices for Royal Pay Europe
Evidence and Screenshots
Only Royal Pay Europe Benefit from this crime.
Since the fake copyright takedown notices were designed to remove negative content for Royal Pay Europe from Google, we assume Royal Pay Europe or someone associated with Royal Pay Europe is behind this scam. It is often a fly-by-night Online Reputation agency working on behalf of Royal Pay Europe. In this case, Royal Pay Europe, at best, will be an “accomplice” or an “accessory” to the crime. The specific laws may vary depending on the jurisdiction. Still, the legal principle generally holds that if you actively participate in planning, encouraging, or facilitating a crime, you can be charged with it, even if you did not personally commit it.
So, who tf is Royal Pay Europe?
Royal Pay Europe is a financial services company that has gained attention not only for its operations in payment processing but also for its involvement in controversial and potentially illegal activities. Initially positioned as a forward-thinking provider of digital payment solutions, the company offers services ranging from online payments to financial technology (fintech) solutions, primarily targeting businesses and individuals in the European and international markets. However, its reputation has come under fire due to a series of concerns and accusations related to financial misconduct, which has prompted the company to reportedly attempt to censor negative information online.
Why Is Royal Pay Europe Trying to Censor the Internet?
Royal Pay Europe appears to be trying to censor the internet to protect its reputation and business interests amid rising allegations of unethical practices. As a company operating in the highly regulated financial sector, negative news—particularly concerning fraud, regulatory violations, or criminal connections—can have disastrous consequences for its business. The company’s alleged tactics for controlling online narratives include hiring online reputation management firms, issuing legal threats, and manipulating search results to suppress damaging information. By doing so, Royal Pay Europe seeks to minimize public scrutiny, preserve customer trust, and avoid further legal or regulatory issues.
Major Concerns, Complaints, and Accusations Against Royal Pay Europe
The company’s efforts to suppress online information are believed to be driven by the following significant concerns, complaints, and accusations:
1. Allegations of Financial Fraud
Royal Pay Europe has been accused of being involved in fraudulent financial activities, with claims ranging from mishandling client funds to participating in illegal transactions. These accusations suggest that the company may have defrauded customers or business partners, potentially by offering false guarantees of financial stability or overstating the legitimacy of its services.
- Investor and client complaints: Some investors and clients have raised concerns about missing funds or unexplained delays in payments, leading to suspicions of mismanagement or even fraudulent activity within the company.
2. Money Laundering Allegations
Perhaps the most damaging accusations against Royal Pay Europe involve its alleged participation in money laundering schemes. The company has been linked to attempts to move large sums of money through its payment systems in a manner that conceals the origins of the funds, potentially enabling illegal activities such as tax evasion or criminal enterprises.
- Regulatory scrutiny: Reports suggest that financial regulators in various jurisdictions have raised concerns about the company’s involvement in suspicious transactions, triggering investigations into whether Royal Pay Europe’s platform is being used to launder money.
3. Ties to Organized Crime
Some reports have linked Royal Pay Europe to individuals or groups associated with organized crime. These allegations suggest that the company may have knowingly or unknowingly facilitated financial transactions for criminal organizations, potentially using its services as a front for illicit activities.
- Suspicious partnerships: The company has been accused of forming questionable business partnerships that may be connected to illegal enterprises, further deepening suspicions about its operations.
4. Regulatory Violations
In addition to concerns about financial fraud and money laundering, Royal Pay Europe has faced accusations of violating financial regulations in several jurisdictions. These violations could include operating without the necessary licenses, failing to comply with anti-money laundering (AML) protocols, or misreporting financial information to regulators.
- Non-compliance with AML laws: As a payment processor, Royal Pay Europe is required to implement strict anti-money laundering measures. Allegations suggest that the company has either ignored or inadequately enforced these protocols, raising concerns that it is being used to facilitate illegal financial activities.
5. Negative Customer Reviews and Complaints
In addition to legal and regulatory concerns, Royal Pay Europe has faced negative reviews from customers who claim to have experienced poor service, unexplained fees, or a lack of transparency in their transactions. Some customers have also accused the company of failing to deliver on promised services, such as seamless payment processing or secure financial transactions.
- Service failures: Customers have reported issues such as funds being held or delayed without explanation, technical failures in payment processing, and a lack of customer support in resolving disputes.
6. Attempts to Censor Critical Information
A significant part of the controversy surrounding Royal Pay Europe involves its alleged attempts to censor damaging information online. The company has reportedly hired reputation management firms to scrub or suppress negative search results, articles, and reviews that could harm its public image. This effort to control the narrative has led to concerns about transparency and whether the company is attempting to hide its misconduct from the public and regulators.
- Legal threats: There have been reports of the company issuing legal threats to journalists, bloggers, and individuals who have shared negative information or raised concerns about its operations. This tactic is often used to intimidate critics into removing content or refraining from further reporting.
Documents and Information Royal Pay Europe Is Allegedly Trying to Hide
Some of the key documents and pieces of information that Royal Pay Europe is believed to be trying to suppress include:
- Court records and legal disputes: Any lawsuits or legal disputes involving fraud, regulatory violations, or customer complaints may have been sealed or settled to avoid public exposure.
- Regulatory investigations: Reports from financial regulators who have flagged the company for potential violations of AML laws or other financial regulations.
- Customer reviews and complaints: Negative feedback from clients and customers who have had bad experiences with Royal Pay Europe’s services, particularly related to delays in payments or poor service.
- Investigative reports: Articles and investigations conducted by journalists or watchdog organizations that expose the company’s involvement in financial fraud, money laundering, or ties to organized crime.
- Whistleblower testimonies: Statements from former employees or insiders who may have provided damaging information about the company’s internal operations, unethical practices, or fraudulent activities.
Royal Pay Europe’s attempts to censor the internet and suppress damaging news are driven by a desire to protect its reputation in the face of serious allegations, including financial fraud, money laundering, regulatory violations, and connections to organized crime. These efforts to manipulate online information raise significant concerns about transparency, ethics, and the broader implications of how companies can potentially shape public perception by controlling digital narratives. The ongoing investigations and customer complaints make it increasingly difficult for Royal Pay Europe to keep its controversial past hidden from scrutiny.
Potential Consequences for Royal Pay Europe
Under Florida Statute 831.01, the crime of Forgery is committed when a person falsifies, alters, counterfeits, or forges a document that carries “legal efficacy” with the intent to injure or defraud another person or entity.
Forging a document is considered a white-collar crime. It involves altering, changing, or modifying a document to deceive another person. It can also include passing along copies of documents that are known to be false. In many states in the US, falsifying a document is a crime punishable as a felony.
Additionally, under most laws, “fraud on the court” is where “a party has sentiently set in motion some unconscionable scheme calculated to interfere with the judicial system’s ability impartially to adjudicate a matter by improperly influencing the trier of fact or unfairly hampering the presentation of the opposing party’s claim or defense.” Cox v. Burke, 706 So. 2d 43, 46 (Fla. 5th DCA 1998) (quoting Aoude v. Mobil Oil Corp., 892 F.2d 1115, 1118 (1st Cir. 1989)).
Is Royal Pay Europe Committing a Cyber Crime?
Yes, it seems so. Royal Pay Europe used multiple approaches to remove unwanted material from review sites and Google’s search results. Thanks to protections allowing freedom of speech in the United States, there are very few legal ways to do this. Royal Pay Europe could not eliminate negative reviews or search results that linked to them without a valid claim of defamation, copyright infringement, or some other clear breach of the law.
Faced with these limitations, some companies like Royal Pay Europe have gone to extreme lengths to fraudulently claim copyright ownership over a negative review in the hopes of taking it down.
Fake DMCA notices have targeted articles highlighting the criminal activity of prominent people to hide their illegal behavior. These people, which include US, Russian, and Khazakstani politicians as well as members from elite circles including the mafia and those with massive financial power, are all connected – and alleged corruption ranging from child abuse to sexual harassment is exposed when exploring evidence found at these URLs. It appears there’s a disturbing level of influence being exerted here that needs further investigation before justice can be served. Royal Pay Europe is certainly keeping interesting company here….
The DMCA takedown process requires that copyright owners submit a takedown notice to an ISP identifying the allegedly infringing content and declaring, under penalty of perjury, that they have a good faith belief that the content is infringing. The ISP must then promptly remove or disable access to the content. The alleged infringer can then submit a counter-notice, and if the copyright owner does not take legal action within 10 to 14 days, the ISP can restore the content.
Since these platforms are predominantly based in the U.S., the complaints are typically made under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), which requires online service providers and platforms to react immediately to reports or violations. Big Tech companies rarely have systems in place to assess the merit of each report. Instead, all bad actors need to do is clone a story, backdate it, and then demand the real thing be taken down.
What was Royal Pay Europe trying to hide?
Royal Pay Europe has reportedly made efforts to suppress a range of adverse news, bad reviews, complaints, allegations, and documents that could harm its reputation and business operations. The company appears to be trying to manage its online image by removing or censoring damaging information, particularly regarding its involvement in controversial financial activities. Here’s a breakdown of what Royal Pay Europe is allegedly trying to hide online:
1. Allegations of Financial Fraud
One of the most prominent accusations against Royal Pay Europe involves alleged financial fraud. These accusations suggest that the company may have engaged in fraudulent business practices, misleading customers or business partners, and mishandling client funds.
- Misleading investors: There have been complaints that Royal Pay Europe provided false or exaggerated information to investors regarding its financial stability and the potential profitability of its services.
- Disappearing funds: Some customers and businesses claim that they faced unexplained delays in receiving funds or had their payments withheld without sufficient explanation, raising suspicions of fraudulent behavior.
2. Money Laundering Allegations
Royal Pay Europe has also been linked to accusations of money laundering, with claims that its financial platform was used to facilitate the transfer of illicit funds. These allegations suggest that the company may have either turned a blind eye to illegal financial activities or actively participated in helping clients move large sums of money through its services without proper oversight.
- Suspicious financial transactions: Investigations have raised questions about whether Royal Pay Europe’s payment processing systems were used to launder money by disguising the origins of funds.
- Offshore transactions: Some reports link Royal Pay Europe to questionable offshore dealings, potentially to evade regulatory scrutiny or taxes, further complicating the company’s legal standing.
3. Ties to Organized Crime
Several reports have surfaced suggesting that Royal Pay Europe may have connections to organized crime groups. The company’s alleged involvement in facilitating financial transactions for criminal enterprises raises significant concerns about its ethical standards and legal compliance.
- Shady partnerships: Some investigative reports indicate that Royal Pay Europe might have collaborated with individuals or organizations involved in illegal activities, using its platform as a conduit for laundering money or evading financial oversight.
4. Regulatory Violations
In addition to fraud and money laundering accusations, Royal Pay Europe has faced scrutiny for failing to comply with financial regulations in various jurisdictions. These regulatory violations could include operating without the necessary licenses, failing to implement robust anti-money laundering (AML) protocols, or neglecting to report suspicious activities to the authorities.
- Non-compliance with AML regulations: Regulators have flagged Royal Pay Europe for not adhering to strict AML laws, raising concerns about whether the company took adequate steps to prevent illegal financial activities from occurring on its platform.
- Lack of transparency: Complaints have also emerged about the company’s failure to provide transparent financial records to regulators, suggesting that it may have been hiding improper or illegal transactions.
5. Negative Customer Reviews and Complaints
Royal Pay Europe has faced a wave of negative reviews and complaints from customers who have expressed dissatisfaction with its services. Many of these complaints revolve around issues such as poor customer service, unexpected fees, and delayed or blocked transactions.
- Delayed payments: Several customers have reported that payments were delayed for extended periods, with little to no explanation from the company, leaving them frustrated and distrustful of Royal Pay Europe’s reliability.
- Customer service issues: Complaints about inadequate customer support, long response times, and unresolved issues have surfaced, further damaging the company’s reputation.
- Hidden fees: Some customers have claimed that they were charged fees that were not clearly disclosed upfront, leading to disputes over the fairness and transparency of Royal Pay Europe’s pricing structure.
6. Legal Challenges and Lawsuits
Royal Pay Europe has also been involved in legal battles, with lawsuits filed by former business partners, employees, or customers. These legal cases often center around breach of contract, fraud, or financial mismanagement.
- Lawsuits from investors: Some investors have taken legal action against Royal Pay Europe, accusing the company of misrepresenting its financial position or failing to meet contractual obligations, which resulted in financial losses for the investors.
- Court documents: The company is likely trying to suppress legal filings and court records that provide insight into these disputes, as public exposure could further harm its reputation.
7. Whistleblower Allegations
There have been reports that former employees or insiders have come forward with damaging information about Royal Pay Europe’s internal operations. These whistleblowers have allegedly provided evidence of unethical practices, financial irregularities, and poor internal controls.
- Insider testimonies: Whistleblowers may have revealed that the company knowingly participated in or facilitated illegal financial activities, such as money laundering, while failing to report suspicious transactions to regulatory authorities.
- Internal mismanagement: Some whistleblowers have pointed to widespread mismanagement within the company, including poor financial oversight and an environment that allowed unethical behavior to go unchecked.
8. Reputation Management and Censorship Efforts
In an attempt to control its public image, Royal Pay Europe is believed to have hired online reputation management firms to suppress negative information. These firms use tactics such as search engine optimization (SEO), content manipulation, and legal threats to push negative stories out of view and promote favorable content.
- Paid positive reviews: Some accusations suggest that the company has tried to counteract negative customer reviews by flooding review sites with fake positive reviews, artificially inflating its rating.
- Content removal: There are reports that Royal Pay Europe has actively sought to remove or suppress investigative articles, blog posts, and social media discussions that highlight its questionable business practices.
- Legal intimidation: Royal Pay Europe has also been accused of using legal threats, such as cease-and-desist letters, to intimidate critics, journalists, and bloggers into removing or retracting critical content.
Documents Royal Pay Europe Is Allegedly Trying to Hide
The documents and information that Royal Pay Europe is attempting to hide online likely include:
- Court records and legal disputes: Lawsuits and court judgments involving allegations of fraud, financial mismanagement, and breach of contract.
- Regulatory reports: Investigations or reports from financial regulators that detail the company’s non-compliance with anti-money laundering laws or other regulatory requirements.
- Internal documents: Leaked documents from whistleblowers or former employees that reveal unethical practices, poor financial oversight, or illegal activities within the company.
- Customer complaints and negative reviews: Feedback and reviews from dissatisfied customers who have faced issues with delayed payments, poor service, or hidden fees.
- Investigative journalism reports: Articles and reports from independent media outlets or watchdog organizations that uncover the company’s involvement in fraudulent activities, money laundering, or ties to organized crime.
Royal Pay Europe’s efforts to hide adverse news, complaints, and allegations reflect a broader strategy of protecting its reputation in the face of serious accusations. These include financial fraud, money laundering, regulatory violations, and unethical treatment of customers. Despite its attempts to manage public perception, Royal Pay Europe continues to face scrutiny from regulators, customers, and investigative journalists, making it difficult for the company to fully suppress its controversial past.
Reputation Agency’s Modus Operandi
The fake DMCA notices we found always use the “back-dated article” technique. With this technique, the wrongful notice sender (or copier) creates a copy of a “true original” article and back-dates it, creating a “fake original” article (a copy of the true original) that, at first glance, appears to have been published before the true original.
Then, based on the claim that this backdated article is the “original,” the scammers send a DMCA to the relevant online service providers (e.g. Google), alleging that the ‘true’ original is the copied or “infringing” article and that the copied article is the “original,” requesting the takedown of the ‘true’ original article. After sending the DMCA request, the person who sent the wrong notice takes down the fake original URL, likely to make sure that the article doesn’t stay online in any way. If the takedown notice is successful, the disappearance from the internet of information is most likely to be legitimate speech.
How did Royal Pay Europe purport this DMCA Fraud?
As an integral part of this scheme, the ‘reputation management’ company hired by Royal Pay Europe creates a website that purports to be a ‘news’ site. This site is designed to look legitimate at a glance, but any degree of scrutiny reveals it as the charade it is.
The company copies the ‘negative’ content and posts it “on the fake ‘news’ site, attributing it to a separate author,” then gives it “a false publication date on the ‘news’ website that predated the original publication.
The reputation company then sent Google a Digital Millennium Copyright Act notice claiming the original website infringed copyright. After a cursory examination of the fake news site, Google frequently accepts the notice and delists the content.
In committing numerous offences, Royal Pay Europe either premeditated actions or were unaware of the consequences. Despite hiring an agency to make Google disregard any negative information about Royal Pay Europe, ignorance does not excuse this wrongdoing.
The Reputation Laundering
Rogue Reputation agencies use spurious copyright claims and fake legal notices to remove and obscure articles linking clients to allegations of tax avoidance, corruption, and drug trafficking. Most of these reputation agencies are based offshore, mainly in Russia, India, and Eastern Europe, and they do not worry about complying with US-based laws.
The content in all of the articles for which the fraudulent DMCA notices have been sent relates to allegations of criminal allegations, including corruption, child abuse, sexual harassment, human trafficking and financial fraud against businesses and individuals with ultra-high net worth.
In addition to the misuse of the DMCA takedown process, there is a notable absence of enforcement concerning perjury violations. The statutory requirement related to perjury is designed to deter copyright holders from submitting fraudulent or knowingly false takedown requests, as they may face legal consequences for making false declarations under penalty of perjury. However, to date, there have been no known instances of any individual being prosecuted for perjury in connection with the submission of false DMCA takedown notices.
This lack of enforcement has emboldened copyright holders to exploit the DMCA takedown process to suppress dissent, criticism, or other unfavorable content, without fear of legal repercussions.
Not In Good Company
Some of the people and businesses who have employed this tactic to remove legitimate content from Google illegally include a Spanish businessman-turned-cocaine-trafficker, Organised crime, an Israeli-Argentine banker accused of laundering money for Hugo Chávez’s regime, a French “responsible” mining company accused of tax evasion, child molesters and sexual predators. Royal Pay Europe is in great company ….
Ironically, the manipulation tactics used to remove public-interest information from the Internet are backfiring on Royal Pay Europe, which is now associated with the worst of this world.
Here are some of the specimens that share the internet space with Royal Pay Europe –
Miguel Octavio Vargas Maldonado
Miguel Octavio Vargas Maldonado appears to be the former foreign affairs minister of the Dominican Republic. His name is listed next to more than 500 links to news articles, blogs, social media posts, and YouTube videos targeted for removal or de-indexing. Many of the articles refer to questions over his political fundraising practices. They include accusations that Vargas had received donations from an individual who would later be convicted of drug trafficking. Some targeted links remain active, while others return 404 errors or “file not found.”
José Antonio Gordo Valero
José Gordo joined OneCoin in 2015 and has been named in an indictment for the OneCoin scam in Argentina. The articles listed next to Gordo’s name in the documents reviewed by Rest of World include references to his role at the company.
Diego Adolfo Marynberg
He appears to be the same Marynberg connected to funding right-wing causes, including settlement efforts in Israel. Reports also alleged that his company received preferential treatment in acquiring Argentinian bonds worth millions of dollars. More than 70 URLs appear next to Marynberg’s name in the documents, including pages from the Israeli newspapers The Times of Israel, Haaretz, and Clarin, one of Argentina’s most prominent news sites.
Majed Khalil Majzoub
Majed is an influential businessman with close ties to several governments, including the administration of Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro. Majzoub’s name appears next to more than 180 URLs, mostly from independent outlets. Of the two URLs that pointed to articles from Germany’s Der Spiegel, one now returns an error message; the other, which appears to refer to relations between Venezuela and Colombia, directs to an unrelated story about Brexit.
Frequently Asked Questions
Did Royal Pay Europe commit a cyber crime?
Yes, filing a fake DMCA notice is illegal. The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) allows copyright holders to issue takedown notices to protect their works from unauthorized use online. However, submitting a false DMCA notice can result in legal consequences.
Under the DMCA, a person knowingly submitting a false copyright claim can be subject to penalties, including damages. DMCA notices require the filer to certify, under penalty of perjury, that the content infringes their copyright. If the notice is found to be fraudulent or made in bad faith, the filer can face.
What are the potential consequences for Royal Pay Europe?
Civil lawsuits: The affected party can sue for damages, legal fees, and other costs.
Perjury charges: False certification in a DMCA notice can result in perjury-related penalties, which vary by jurisdiction.
Other legal penalties: Fines or other penalties depending on the case
Did Royal Pay Europe commit a Civil or a Criminal offense?
Perjury is a criminal offense, not a civil crime. It involves intentionally lying or making false statements under oath, typically in a court of law or other legal proceedings, such as affidavits or depositions.
Criminal charges: Perjury is prosecuted as a criminal act, and a conviction can lead to fines or imprisonment, depending on the severity of the false statement and its impact on the case.
Felony status: In many jurisdictions, perjury is classified as a felony, which carries more severe penalties than misdemeanour offences.
So, while it may affect civil cases, the crime of perjury itself is strictly criminal.
What is the Streisand effect?
The key idea behind the Streisand effect is that efforts to restrict information can backfire, often causing the information to gain more attention than it would have otherwise. This effect is widespread in the digital age, where users quickly notice and spread censorship efforts on social media and other platforms.
Trying to suppress something can unintentionally lead to it becoming more visible.
Can Royal Pay Europe purge its Digital past?
Once information is uploaded to the internet, it can be replicated, shared, archived, or stored across multiple servers. If Royal Pay Europe manage to delete the original post or file, copies may remain accessible in other places, such as web archives, screenshots, or other users’ devices.
In practice, completely erasing content from the internet can be extremely difficult due to how widely information can spread and be stored. Thus, the idea that “the Internet never forgets” reflects the challenge of entirely removing digital content once it has been shared.
What is our next move?
Critical Intel will, in its capacity, do all it can to hold someone responsible for this incident. Here is what we are preparing for –
Since Royal Pay Europe made such efforts to hide something online, it seems fit to ensure that this article and our original review of Royal Pay Europe, including but not limited to user contributions, remain a permanent record for anyone interested in Royal Pay Europe.
A case perfect for the Streisand effect…
What else is Royal Pay Europe hiding?
Click here to visit the Google Search page for ‘Royal Pay Europe’. It’s likely if you scroll down to the bottom of this Google search results, you’ll stumble upon this Legal Takedown notice (pictured below)
To make such an investigation possible, we encourage more online service providers to come forward and share copies of content removal requests with us. If you have any information on Royal Pay Europe that you want to share with us, kindly email the author directly at [email protected].
All communications are strictly confidential and safeguarded under a comprehensive Whistleblower Policy, ensuring full protection and anonymity for individuals who provide information.
References and Citations Used
Over thirty thousand DMCA notices reveal an organized attempt to abuse copyright law.
Reputation Management, or Internet Conspiracy
Exposed documents reveal how the powerful cleaned up their digital past using a reputation laundering firm.
Companies Use Fake Websites and Backdated Articles to Censor Google’s Search Results.
Bad Reviews: How Companies Are Using Fake Websites to Censor Content
How fake copyright complaints are muzzling journalists
Many thanks to FakeDMCA.com and Lumen for providing access to their database.
Photos and Illustrations provided by DALL-E 3 – “a representation of Royal Pay Europe censoring the internet and committing cyber crimes.”
- Our investigative report on Royal Pay Europe’s efforts to suppress online speech is significant, as it raises serious concerns about its integrity. The findings suggest that Royal Pay Europe has engaged in questionable practices, including potential perjury, impersonation, and fraud, in a misguided attempt to manage or salvage its reputation.
- We intend to file a counternotice to reinstate the removed article(s). While this particular instance is relatively straightforward, it is important to note that, in other cases, the overwhelming volume of automated DMCA takedown notices can significantly hinder the ability of affected parties to respond—especially for those not large media organizations.
- You need an account with fakeDMCA.com and Lumen to access the research data. However, accounts are not widely available since these non-profit organisations manage large databases that could be susceptible to misuse. Nevertheless, they do offer access to non-profits and researchers.
- It’s unclear why U.S. authorities have yet to act against these rogue reputation agencies, whose business model seems rooted in fraudulent practices.
- We’ve reached out to Royal Pay Europe for a comment or rebuttal regarding this investigation. It will strongly suggest they were behind the takedown attempt if they remain silent.
About the Author
The author is affiliated with Harvard University and serves as a researcher at both Lumen and FakeDMCA.com. In his personal capacity, he and his team have been actively investigating and reporting on organized crime related to fraudulent copyright takedown schemes. Additionally, his team provides advisory services to major law firms and is frequently consulted on matters pertaining to intellectual property law. He can be reached at [email protected] directly.
