Free Google Play Alternative MicroG Framed In Bogus 'Vanced' DMCA Notices

An anonymous reader quotes a report from TorrentFreak: MicroG is a free-as-in-freedom alternative to proprietary Google services, including the Play Store. Vanced, a popular app that provided an ad-free YouTube experience, relied on microG to operate, something also true for successor ReVanced. In a scheme to damage microG and Vanced-style apps, imposters masquerading as microG have targeted almost two dozen sites with DMCA notices. On March 30, 2023, someone claiming to be 'MicroG' sent a DMCA complaint to Google. "The following websites use our content, which is a significant loss for our company," it begins, listing the allegedly infringing URLs below. In the majority of cases, the URLs relate to microG's software when utilized in Vanced-related projects, with one notable exception seen at line 8 where the takedown notice targets microG's official website. [...] At the time of writing, Google has delisted 13% of the URLs in the complaint with 87% currently marked as pending. Other recent complaints, broadly along similar lines (but also completely bogus) were previously rejected in full. Others, including this one sent by 'copyright owner' YouTube Vanced, whoever that is, listed the official YouTube app on Google Play as the original content infringed, before attempting to take down links related to microG and/or Vanced-type software.

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