[ben_jones]

Anecdotal but from the various policies I've observed on my sites, a shill DMCA-like notice to remove content is often enough to get that content removed. A service that does nothing but send thousands of these to all top google searches would seem feasible and somewhat effective. Again the internet is not free if we use it as a collection of walled gardens.

[DanBC]

But that would be a criminal offence, right?

[vkou]

Filing a false DMCA claim is perjury. However, not a single person has ever been prosecuted for this.

[HNaTTY]

Criminal offense in that it's perjury, but you could also be required to pay the other side's legal fees.

As far as I know, punishment for the perjury has never happened. The only case I know of where legal fees were paid is Automattic vs Steiner.

[esmi]

Judging by all the other spam I get I think no. Especially if it's just a notice that they have no intention of actually following up on.