# Google Removes Article About Pollen's CEO and CTO Following Bogus Copyright Claim The exposé on the company's collapse was deleted from search results. - **Source:** [The Pragmatic Engineer](https://blog.pragmaticengineer.com) - **Published:** 2026-06-28 - **Topic:** [Business](https://brifing.si/c/business) - **Original article:** - **On Brifing:** https://brifing.si/s/f24b57d7-05d4-4990-b501-68dbbd769c1f ## Pollen's collapse story In my 2022 article, I detailed the dramatic collapse of events tech company Pollen. The company had seemingly survived COVID-19 and raised $150M in funding. Yet three weeks later, it laid off a third of its staff. Subsequently, salaries went unpaid, pension contributions disappeared, and the company went bankrupt. ## Management scandals Founder Callum Negus-Fancey was accused of lying to employees, withholding salaries, and failing to pay US staff health insurance. CTO Bradley Wright double-charged customers $3.2M. These scandals, featured in a BBC documentary, completely destroyed the company's reputation. ## Deletion attempt on Google Four years later, Pollen or related parties filed a fake copyright claim to remove the article. Google accepted a bogus DMCA submission allegedly from Bouvet Island - an uninhabited territory. The article was falsely claimed to copy a 1998 New York Post piece, which is completely baseless. ## Copyright system abuse Google's copyright complaint system being so easily abused is concerning. Fake submissions with fabricated information get approved without review. This sets a dangerous precedent for censoring exposé content through fraudulent claims. ## Ongoing legal battles A lawsuit by former employees continues in California. Callum Negus-Fancey, Liam Negus-Fancey and James Ellis face personal liability. Plaintiffs demand unpaid wages, severance, and pension contributions. The case also examines the company's asset transfers. ## Streisand Effect in action Pollen's censorship attempt created a textbook Streisand Effect. The takedown request reignited interest in the scandal. Companies trying to bury past misconduct often draw more attention instead. This case underscores the importance of transparency in crisis management. ## Sources covering this story - https://blog.pragmaticengineer.com/pollen-tried-to-remove-my-article-about-callum-negus-fancey-and-google-is-assisting-to-it/ — --- _Summary written by Brifing from the original reporting. Copyright in the original article belongs to its publisher; read the full piece at the link above._