This past week, a number of Destiny content creators were struck by copyright claims and takedown requests across various uploads to their YouTube channels. A number of high-profile creators, such as MyNameIsByf, were hit just as hard as smaller creators. In fact, some of Bungie's own Destiny videos were also struck by copyright claims.
What the heck happened?
According to the March 24 release of "This Week at Bungie," the takedown notices and copyright claims were done fraudulently. Apparently, some group or individual made fraudulent accounts that impersonated Bungie's IP protection service.
Google has confirmed that the accounts that have submitted fraudulent legal requests to YouTube have been terminated and will no longer have access to Google products. All fraudulent submissions from these accounts will be reversed (some have already, the rest should come through shortly). The processing of these takedowns was an enforcement mistake by Google, and beyond rescinding the strikes and reinstating the videos, they are also working on process improvements to reduce the likelihood of any similar mistakes in the future. Please be patient as we work with YouTube to correct the fraudulent DMCA notices. In the meantime, we ask that you please refrain from harassing any member of the community or any employee of CSC.
We wanted to clear up a few misconceptions caused by this fraud:
We wanted to clear up a few misconceptions caused by this fraud:
- CSC, a Bungie partner that aids in IP protection, did not go rogue or issue any unauthorized takedowns.
- Bungie does not use or authorize algorithmic takedowns on YouTube. All actions by CSC are reviewed and authorized by Bungie.
- Because these are human processes, in rare occurrences human error has occurred, in which we have quickly worked to correct any issues.
- Bungie does not use or authorize algorithmic takedowns on YouTube. All actions by CSC are reviewed and authorized by Bungie.
- Bungie investigated the claims of suspicious takedowns and found that several strikes were perpetrated by a “bad actor†that is not affiliated with Bungie or CSC, but who has impersonated CSC by falsifying look-alike email aliases. This attack occurred after, and possibly in response to, a recent set of authentic takedowns of OST uploads.
Bungie also says that they will be updating their community guidelines messaging to be clearer to fans.
Going forward we will be allowing certain Destiny music tracks to be uploaded to channels for archival purposes. For those creators interested in this type of content creation, the guidelines below should be reviewed:
- It can't be an OST song that Bungie has already released or posted elsewhere publicly.
- The content cannot be monetized.
- The creator needs to obtain permission from Bungie by contacting this email: licensing@bungie.com.
