Fair use of copyrighted material has led to many YouTube users to rise to stardom, with the popularity of reaction videos and video game-related videos. How content is created and the medium in which it is being published is constantly changing. Though the content changes, the rules have stayed the same. This has caused many issues, because of the way copyright laws were made. They really only cover the ways content was created and shared for the time it was written.
With the new wave of technology, a lot of gray areas of copyrights have appeared. This unknown territory has opened a door for big companies to bully YouTube to take down the content of people who are within fair use. This is nothing new, but people are losing their patience as false claims and large companies take down content that should be protected by fair use constantly, due to YouTube’s broken content ID system and lawsuits.
In recent months, we've seen YouTube critic Jim Sterling undergo attack from the game developer "Digital Homicide," who has decided to sue Sterling for 10 million dollars, claiming that he is responsible for damaging their company. What has gotten them so upset is the fact that he critiqued a game by the company, and found it appalling. The company didn't like that he gave it such negative remarks and decided to file a lawsuit.
Just this week we've seen YouTuber "Bald Guy" sue YouTuber "H3H3," claiming that his reaction video to Bald Guy's video was an infringement of copyright. He tried to extort money out H3H3, before finalizing the lawsuit. This issue has gotten out of hand and needs to be fixed.
What will it take to end this endless tide of lawsuits and confusion? Well, the good news is that some are already taking action. After the news of H3H3 receiving a lawsuit was released, fellow YouTuber Phillip Defranco set up a gofundme campaign to help cover the costs of the court case. In under 24 hours the campaign had raised over 115,000 dollars. H3H3 put the money into a bank account dedicated to helping those in need to fight these unfair court cases; he will be the first client.
This seems to be a sign the YouTube community is ready for change. Now is the time for copyright laws to be looked over and updated so people can retain their right to review, critique, and make the content that they want to make. Share this article and share your thoughts on how you feel the copyright laws can be changed to work with our more technologically advanced society. Also, please go support the campaign; each dollar helps keep innocent people, trying to make entertaining content, from being labeled criminals.
