Twitch Streamers are Seeing Content Removed Following DMCA Takedown Notices

Twitch has apparently received a number of DMCA takedown notices for music used during streams, resulting in several streamers having content deleted. The company apparently sent an e-mail to hundreds of partnered streamers that their content was being pulled, though no specific content was identified. The email states that the streamer is receiving a one-time warning and should learn about copyright law, but it does make things more difficult given the fact that these streamers do not know what content might be in violation. The news comes from esports consultant Rod Breslau, who shared the email on Twitter. The Tweet can be found embedded below.

DMCA stands for Digital Millennium Copyright Act. Essentially, the act allows websites like YouTube and Twitch a chance to avoid copyright lawsuits if they remove content following notification from the copyright holder. This is not the first time that Twitch has been hit with DMCA takedown notices. Over the summer, several streamers were informed about takedown notices, sometimes from years prior. Those requests reportedly came from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), but it's unclear whether or not this new set of takedowns also came from the group.

Twitch streamers now get to experience the archaic insanity of music industry record label bs that YouTubers have had to deal with for years, and yet Twitch has somehow managed to do an even worse job for creators than YouTube. truly impressive work all around here

— Rod Breslau (@Slasher) October 20, 2020

The whole situation is clearly frustrating for Twitch streamers. Without any way of knowing which clips have been removed from the site, they are unable to make changes, or find out what content violated copyright law, which is what Twitch is advising its partnered-streamers to do. For now, streamers like Anna Brisbin, whose Tweet can be found below, have little recourse but to hope for the best.

I also got that DMCA takedown email from twitch but there’s no way to know what was claimed or what they took down so that’s fun.

I’m just gonna assume it’s that one time I threw caution to the wind for a Hamilton singalong and hope everything else was fine lol

— Anna Brisbin✨ (@BrizzyVoices) October 20, 2020

Given the number of streamers that received the email, it seems that Twitch received a lot of requests. Removing all of the offending content likely prevented a lawsuit, but until streamers are made aware of the specific content that's being deleted, and given the keys to do something about older content that might violate copyright law, these issues will continue to plague the platform.

What do you think about the DMCA takedown notices? Have any of your favorite streamers commented on the situation? Let us know in the comments or share your thoughts directly on Twitter at @Marcdachamp to talk about all things gaming!