“Politics ain’t beanbag,” but the weapon of choice in the latest story of political foul play isn’t a smear campaign or an October surprise — it’s copyright law.

Ahead of Florida’s 22nd Congressional District primary, local journalists reported that news stories critical of candidate Michael Carbonara magically disappeared from Google Search results. The magic? Bogus copyright takedown requests from shadowy U.K. companies with no apparent connection to the stories. Carbonara’s campaign has denied any involvement. No fancy lawyers or deep pockets required, just a simple DMCA takedown form submitted to Google that the Sun Sentinel found resulted in more than 100 news articles that mention Carbonara, or the District 22 race, being removed over a three-week period.