With the Google Penguin 4.0 launch many old questions are resurfacing around the algorithm and how to do well after it. One of those is if using the disavow backlink file is a way to recover from Penguin. The answer is yes.
I actually said so on 9/23 but Gary Illyes from Google confirmed it in one tweet. He said "we haven't changed our recommendations for the disavow tool with this launch."
@BruceClayInc we haven't changed our recommendations for the disavow tool with this launch
— Gary Illyes (@methode) September 26, 2016
What was their past recommendations?
Matt Cutts, former Googler, said disavows help with Penguin. He said this back in June 2013:
@joshbachynski disavows can help for Penguin.
— Matt Cutts (@mattcutts) June 28, 2013
That didn't change and Google said it several times since then.
So if you think you are hurt by Penguin, use the disavow backlink tool.
Forum discussion at Twitter.