‘I terminated this channel’: Inside the Fake Copyright Racket Silencing News Outlets

Source briefing · A concise briefing based on one linked source. It is intentionally shorter than a full FreedomWitness Evidence Engine analysis.

What the source reports

Hired hands in an underground takedown market are charging up to $5,000 to scrub reporting from social media by filing fake copyright claims.

Evidence note: At this stage FreedomWitness is presenting what this source reports. This briefing does not independently prove every underlying claim and should be read together with the original material.

Source & verification

Primary source: OCCRP · August 5, 2026

Read the original source

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