Concerns Raised by Twitch Streamers over DMCA Crackdown
In the last month, numerous Twitch streamers have expressed their concerns about the platform’s crackdown on DMCA violations.
Joining the chorus, popular streamer and content creator Charlie “moistcr1tikal” White shared his thoughts on the current situation in a video on his YouTube channel penguinz0. He emphasized the need for Twitch to make necessary changes.
Moistcr1tikal addressed the suggestion of refraining from playing music during streams.
According to moistcr1tikal, the issue is even worse than just having recorded music in streams. Streamers often play video games that contain copyrighted music, resulting in DMCA strikes.
To support his claim, moistcr1tikal mentioned two streamers whose content was removed due to in-game audio, including music and game sound effects.
Avoiding copyrighted music in games is challenging. “There’s really no way to avoid that other than avoiding games that have any music playing at all,” moistcr1tikal explained.
In his video, moistcr1tikal pointed out that while the copyright holders have the right to strike channels using their content, Twitch is responsible for enforcing the punishment.
“The DMCA only requires taking down the content violating the policy. It doesn’t specify that channels should be taken down. Twitch could simply remove the VOD with infringements,” moistcr1tikal highlighted.
As a result of Twitch’s strict enforcement, moistcr1tikal believes that the platform may lose numerous streamers to other sites.
He stated, “If you can’t safely play games on Twitch, all those streamers—who make up 98 percent of the platform—are likely to switch to something safer like YouTube, where DMCA is better handled, and you won’t get banned for having a song play in a video game.”