The internet has had many controversial issues become prominent dinner-table talking points over the years. Whether it be the ease of ability to steal private information, the lack of trust in completing a transaction or simply viruses, the internet in itself has brought many to believe that they are unsafe when they surf the web.
However, as media has developed, a different kind of protection has come to be desired, less by consumers, and more by producers. Copyright has been a rising issue in general, but especially on the internet.
With how easy it is to exchange content on the internet, making sure people don’t steal is a concern for those trying to make money. A prime example of this is on YouTube.
Often, musical lyric videos can be taken down since they are copyrighted, regardless of whether or not they are making money. However, a more recent issue, as discussed by Scarce, a YouTuber, has been YouTube streaming. Lately, multiple YouTubers have been stricken down while streaming due to false copyright claims.
One of the issues with the online copyright system, specifically YouTube’s, is the fact that someone can even file a false copyright claim and have it succeed. This has shut down multiple streams for no reason, and YouTube has only later discovered that these accusations were false.
While other streaming services such as Twitch don’t seem to have these issues, YouTube has certainly piqued the interest—and frustration—of many. Philip DeFranco discusses this same issue in his video entitled “YouTube’s New Copyright Problem Strikes In An Unexpected Place.”
He states that it is absolutely necessary for YouTube to take issue with someone streaming something illegally, such as a copyrighted sports event, but that small creators can be hurt significantly by these same rules when users falsely claim copyright issues with their streams and videos.
However, this certainly isn’t the first time YouTube has had copyright drama—and it hasn’t always been with YouTube itself as a service.
In fact, the Fine Bros, creators of the REACT Channel, faced huge lash-back for attempting to license particular kinds of reaction videos. With their attempted React World concept, through which all react videos, especially similar to the REACT Channel, would have to be run.
Many YouTubers took great issue with this. Boogie2988 had a particularly unbiased video discussing the potential ramifications of such a proposal, stating that this system could be abused to shut down competitors and smaller YouTubers.
However, other YouTubers, such as h3h3productions, took a significantly more cynical view on the attempted licensing, attempting to make it clear that this move was purely in the name of greed.
This was not the first time h3h3 and DeFranco were involved in this sort of issue—when h3h3productions was sued by Matt Hosseinzadeh, Philip Defranco created a GoFundMe to help with the lawsuit, fighting against the idea that YouTube content cannot be used by other YouTubers in any way, even when originality is exhibited.
One of the most difficult things about the internet is determining what is fair use. Even YouTube’s official page on fair use is vague, and essentially requires a judge to determine what fair use is and isn’t.
Many people believe that these kinds of policies are destroying internet communities, or simply even making them unhealthy. Others believe that the more protected content is, the more original upcoming content will be.
However, it can certainly be said that money talks. With that in mind, large lawsuits over internet content will not be going away anytime soon.
Marco Omta is a sophomore studying music production. How do you feel about YouTube's new terms of service rules? Email Marco at mo183714@ohio.edu.
