Bungie has reacted swiftly to an onslaught of Destiny 2 YouTube copyright strikes that have impacted many creators on the platform, including Bungie itself. One prominent creator called Aztecross who was facing two copyright strikes, and thus was one strike away from his channel being removed entirely, had them cleared.
Bungie’s current progress on Destiny 2 copyright takedowns
Just woke up to see both copyright strikes have been taken down and removed HALLELUJAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
— Aztecross (@Aztecross) March 21, 2022
Copyright takedowns across all Destiny creators on YouTube were reported over last week, affecting Promethean and Breshi, two channels that archive music, as well as the nicknamed Lore Daddy. Since then, both Promethean and Breshi have had to remove numerous Destiny 2 videos, and Lore Daddy had to delete several tweets that implicated Bungie as the culprit behind the takedowns. It’s typical that the publisher or developer requests YouTube to hand out the strikes on its behalf.
However, many of the YouTube videos given strikes followed the guidelines set by Bungie, which asks creators who monetize content to produce videos with at least 20% original content. While many blamed CSC, an affiliate partner of Bungie, the developer clarified the situation in a statement on Twitter:
We’re aware of a series of copyright takedowns on YouTube and we’re actively investigation. This includes content on our own Bungie channels.
These actions are NOT being taken at the request of Bungie or our partners. Please standby for future updates.
It’s currently unclear who is at fault for the copyright takedowns thus far, but it does expose the vulnerability of YouTube’s automated system. It too easily allows unverified third parties to attempt nefarious takedowns by pretending to be a particular company or acting on the company’s behalf. This is done chiefly to get rid of potential competition by attacking the profits of other channels.
In other news, one of the last Witcher 3 secrets have been found right before the surprise announcement of the new Witcher title, and A Plague Tale is going to be turned into a TV series.
