In August, the cryptocurrency information web site Web3 Is Going Simply Nice revealed an article concerning the arrest of Roman Ziemian, founding father of the cryptocurrency buying and selling platform FutureNet, who was suspected of defrauding victims of a complete of $21 million. .

For information web site administrator Molly White, a software program engineer and one of many world's fiercest critics of the cryptocurrency business, it was a routine publish. Through the years, Mr. White has documented scams, hacks, and scams dedicated by influencers, cryptocurrency mission founders, and Web3 firms on his web site.

And final week, issues bought rather less routine.

On October 18th, an unidentified individual claiming to run a “repute administration firm” that cleans up “buyer photos on the web” requested White to delete X posts about FutureNet and Ziemian. requested to take action. ”

That individual then supplied White a $200 bribe to take away the publish from Web3 Is Going Simply Nice, in line with a replica of the change White shared with currencyjournals.

White declined the supply, insisting there was no error in her publish. The nameless individual agreed, however nonetheless raised the value to $500, in line with a response seen by currencyjournals.

“This isn't the primary time somebody has tried to blackmail me into eradicating my factual reporting, and it's not the primary time they've been profitable,” White informed currencyjournals. He added that that is the primary time he has made a suggestion. cash to do it.

The nameless individual didn’t reply to currencyjournals's request for remark.

Just a few days later, an individual claiming to be an legal professional named Michael Woods despatched White an e-mail. In accordance with an e-mail change that White shared with currencyjournals, Woods cited the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, which governs copyright regulation in america, and mentioned that White's publish learn “The content material on this web page comes from our web site.'' The declare was that it was a copyright violation as a result of it had been copied.

Woods included a hyperlink to a Blogspot web site known as WP Media Information that shows the precise content material of White's publish phrase for phrase. It was reportedly dated August 18, 2024, the day earlier than White's publish, and was allegedly written by Woods himself.

At first look, the Blogspot web site seems to be some form of content material farm, courting again to 1995 and stuffed with dozens of articles on varied sorts of information, together with crypto fraud, sanctions in opposition to Russia, and the coronavirus pandemic. I can see it. All written by Woods. (currencyjournals found that a part of this web site was powered by Rankify, a service that makes use of AI to generate “Search engine marketing-optimized human-like content material” is.)

“There are penalties for false DMCA functions,” White informed an individual purporting to be an legal professional. Woods responded by providing White $100 to “completely delete” the identical weblog publish about Ziemian.

White declined the supply.

currencyjournals was unable to verify whether or not Woods is an actual individual. currencyjournals has confirmed that Woods' deal with within the e-mail signature doesn’t seem to exist in the true world. Woods listed an deal with in Los Angeles that gave the impression to be a totally vacant lot. And, in line with the California Bar's web site, Michael Woods isn’t registered as an legal professional in Los Angeles.

Woods didn’t reply to currencyjournals's requests for remark by way of e-mail and voicemail.

currencyjournals reached out to the e-mail deal with used to register on the FutureNet official web site for remark, however didn’t obtain a response.

White informed currencyjournals: “If I make a mistake, I'm at all times comfortable to right it, however I received't delete a publish just because the individuals or firms I'm writing about don't like what I'm saying.”

“If I did that, there can be virtually nothing left on my web site,” White mentioned.