Twitch star Felix ‘xQc’ Lengyel has revealed how he had his Twitter account locked due to a DMCA strike on a year-old clip from his own stream.
Content creators have always skirted the rules around copyrighted music, images, and video for the longest time, but in recent months, some companies have been stepping up their game and taking charge.
This has led to a raft of issues for creators through DMCA strikes – the Digital Millennium Copyright Act – which can, ultimately, see them lose their accounts and face incredibly high fines.
Some creators, especially on Twitch, have deleted their backlog of old content to avoid any DMCA strikes on their channels – to the dismay of many fans. But, in the case of xQc, he had his Twitter account struck down for an old 10-second long clip.
The Luminosity Gaming member revealed that he’d had his Twitter account locked on December 29, tweeting out an image that showed the social media platform dishing out their punishment.
“DMCA for a year+ old 10s clip from my own stream. Wonderful and well thought out system! Next stop? Jail!” the former Overwatch World Cup MVP captioned his post, in his trademark all caps style, of course.
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Many fans quickly replied with their concerns about him potentially losing his account and suffering a bigger backlash, with fellow Twitch star Imane ‘Pokimane’ Anys saying she’ll see him there.
DMCA FOR A YEAR+ OLD 10S CLIP FROM MY OWN STREAM. WONDERFUL AND WELL THAUGHT OUT SYSTEM! NEXT STOP? JAIL! pic.twitter.com/9bQjLfJmEV
— xQc (@xQc) December 29, 2020
Pokimane was hit with a DMCA strike on Twitter recently herself because she tweeted “I love girls” as well as a TikTok to the song ‘Say So’ by Doja Cat.
It could well be the case that these strikes have come through false claims – someone just wanting to troll creators – but there’s no way of knowing for certain unless the streamers reveal it themselves. Either way, it can be a long process to get rid of a DMCA strike on your name, so, they’ll have to be careful moving forward.