Bungie Slams YouTube In Destiny Copyright Lawsuit
A new lawsuit from Bungie reveals the developer heavily criticizing YouTube for its DMCA system. YouTube is by no means a perfect service, as the platform has encountered numerous problems over the years. Although it's one of the most popular sites of all time, YouTube has a lot of moderation issues. The immense size of the platform and how easy it is to upload content has meant that the platform can't manually review every single video itself, so it has employed tools to help crack down on issues such as copyright violations, but it has led to numerous issues.
This system has been abused by random people, allowing normal users to falsely impersonate major companies like Bungie and remove content off the site and damage channels with copyright strikes. In a lawsuit against 10 John Doe defendants, Bungie slammed YouTube's copyright system for being easily manipulated by these people and noted the damage the incident had done to the company's brand. Bungie is not suing Google, but did highlight the role it played in the issues the company is facing.
"... the Destiny community was bewildered and upset, believing that Bungie had reneged on a promise to allow players to build their own streaming communities and YouTube channels on Destiny 2 content. Destiny community members were also misled to believe that Bungie's brand protection agent was also fraudulent, causing confusion among users as to the authenticity of legitimate DMCA notices," Bungie said.
In a statement to Ars Technica, YouTube noted it is vigilant about identifying and punishing those who issue fake copyright claims, but due to copyright law, must take claims at face value. The full report from Ars Technica is incredibly fascinating and highlights a lot of issues with our current digital age, but it doesn't seem like companies like Bungie will have any issue in fighting back. Earlier this year, Sony announced a plan to acquire Bungie, so the company will likely have the firepower to hit back at bad actors like this.
What do you think about Bungie calling out YouTube's copyright system? Let me know in the comments or hit me up on Twitter @Cade_Onder.