The companies who hired the shady SEO companies to spam the internet presumably paid them; I wonder how they'd feel about paying content hosts to remove those comments as well.
They'd definitely pay if you stated it nicely. ("I would love to help you in removing these links, but my developers are occupied. If you want to expedite the removal, it will be $X per link.")
I get many requests a month to remove spam links that get through our filters. I've debated charging them for it, because I know in most cases the people asking me to remove them are the same people who had them placed there. I haven't charged anyone yet, and I don't think I'm going to.
I do take my time when removing them (lowest priority), and I don't remove the links where the requester cites some legal consequences if I don't comply. Those stay up forever.
