A number of poker streamers have expressed concern after being hit with a series of takedown notices from Twitch. The live streaming service has recently amplified its campaign to prevent copyright infringement across its platform, in compliance with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA).
How It Started
Twitch has been issuing tons of copyright notices to its streamers since June after it received an influx of DMCA takedown requests during the summer. When a certain company, web host, or internet service provider receives a DMCA notice, it is made informed of copyright violations, relating to the illegal use of copyrighted material, including videos, audios, pictures, still artwork, software and even written words.
The influx of DMCA notices is quite unusual for streamers, considering that the platform had not encountered similar issues in the past.
Affected Streamers Advised To Delete Their Archive
The offenders were notified via an email from Twitch that some content on their channel were in violation of copyright law. The affected streamers were advised to review all of their VODs, clips, and all other content and remove those involving copyrighted work. For Twitch streamers, this usually includes the music that they play during their live streams.
Twitch went so far as to say the streamers could delete their entire archive if they are not so sure about its contents, so as to avoid receiving copyright notifications. Those incurring three DMCA strikes will have their channels permanently banned from the platform, in accordance with its three-strike policy.
Lack of Clarity
While Twitch’s rigorous enforcement of the copyright law can be seen as a positive move on the legal side of things, the affected users are left confused as the platform doesn’t have any identification system to specifically point out which content breached the provisions of the DMCA. Some streamers were forced to wipe out all of their old work to avoid the risk of being kicked out from the platform, among them are poker content creators.
“Scary” Move by Twitch
Among members of the Twitch poker streaming community who received a copyright strike was GGSquad member Kevin Martin. The poker pro tweeted that it left him with no choice but to delete all of his old content to make sure he stays on the platform.
Martin said he was able to save a number of clips, but having to wipe everything in the blink of an eye was “heartbreaking”. He added that Twitch’s latest move is unprecedented, prompting action from the streamers and forcing them to delete “thousands of hours” of great footage for fear of being hit by copyright strikes.
The former Canadian Big Brother winner said Twitch content creators, especially streamers like him who make a living out of producing poker content, should now be extra careful when it comes to using music in their videos, as it might end up in their channels being banned, and their bread and butter being taken from them all at once.
Martin isn’t the only poker streamer affected by the latest developments. Lex Veldhuis, one of the world’s most popular poker streamers, also received a DMCA strike, forcing him to pause his usual scheduled streaming. Vedlhuis, who is currently among the members of PokerStars Team Online, indicated he might not use music during his streams anymore due to the prevailing issue.
Like the other affected streamers, Benjamin “Spraggy” Spragg made the difficult decision to remove more than three years of VODs from his Twitch channel to avoid another copyright strike. Jamie Staples also did the same thing, saying it was a “big bummer”. Staples is a member of partypoker Team Online. The company defended their Twitch team, saying they’re working within the guidelines.
The DMCA takedown notices aren’t just limited to poker streamers, as content creators in other niches have also been affected, including popular variety streamer “Fuslie”, American social media star Devin Nash, and DragonForce guitarist Herman Li who played his own music on stream but ended up being suspended.