A new wave of DMCA complaints: attempts to remove StopKor materials about Netpeak’s Artem Borodatiuk from Google search

After a prior DMCA complaint about Stop Kor's material on Netpeak founder Artem Borodatyuk, the editorial team received several more inquiries to Google regarding publications that mention the founder of the IT group and its activities in Russia.

In particular, two materials published at the beginning of September are referenced: “A Year of War, a Year of Taxes: a Netpeak Group–linked company paid into the Russian budget after the invasion?” and “Russian taxes and Ringostat: did Netpeak and Artem Borodatyuk really leave Russia?”.

In the first material, journalists analyzed data from open Russian registries and financial statements. According to the publication, a Russian legal entity associated with Netpeak Group remained registered for some time after the start of the full-scale invasion and carried out financial activity.

The other material concerns Russian taxes and the Ringostat service. In it, Stop Kor cites data from open sources, including the Russian tax authority (FNS) and the BuiltWith technical service, and questions the completeness of the exit of Netpeak-associated structures from the Russian market. The authors emphasize that open data do not provide a definitive answer to whether there was a deliberate continuation of work with Russia, and therefore they await an explanation from the company.

What is a DMCA complaint?

DMCA is an American copyright protection mechanism that Google uses, among other things, to consider requests to remove links from search results to content allegedly infringing copyright. Google notes that it receives such requests from rights holders or organizations representing their interests. At the same time, filing a complaint does not necessarily mean Google has found infringement. The company may refuse to remove a URL if it believes there is not enough grounds or if the content is used in good faith.

Google also acknowledges that it receives inaccurate or unfounded takedown requests. In such cases, the search engine may not remove the relevant links from search results.

Why these materials?

Both Stop Kor publications concern the activities of structures connected with Artem Borodatyuk and their links to the Russian market.

In the September 3 material, the Russian legal entity “Netpik” is discussed, which, according to the publication, was renamed after the start of the full-scale invasion and later liquidated. The authors also analyzed tax data connected to the company; the structure could have paid taxes to the Russian budget.

In the September publication from 4, Stop Kor continued investigating the Russian footprint of the business. Journalists noted that Netpeak Group publicly stated in March 2022 that it would stop working with Russian clients, after which they analyzed data from Russian registries on related legal entities.

At the same time, the editorial notes that the data presented in the publications are the subject of journalistic analysis of open sources, and the conclusions about the activity of specific structures should not be presented as court-established facts.

An attempt to remove materials from search?

Currently the editorial is recording a new wave of inquiries to Google regarding materials mentioning Borodatyuk and related structures.

Earlier Stop Kor already reported a DMCA complaint about a publication on Netpeak. Now at least two more materials devoted to the Russian business footprint have fallen under similar requests.

The editorial believes it is important to publicly document such cases and verify whether the copyright protection mechanism is being used to restrict access to journalistic materials. At the same time, the final decision on each complaint is made by Google.

Stop Kor continues to defend the right to disseminate materials prepared based on open sources and is ready to provide the parties mentioned in the publications with an opportunity to express their position.