YouTube has terminated IShowSpeed’s most recent ‘in real life’ (IRL) streams in India for “policy violations.” However, it’s not totally clear what caused it.
Darren Watkins, also known as IShowSpeed, a 19-year-old American streamer, is one of the most popular names in the streaming industry these days. On his live broadcasts, the streamer has interacted with some of the world’s most prominent figures, including football stars Cristiano Ronaldo and Neymar, as well as global entertainment icons like Kim Kardashian and Drake.
On the other hand, Speed is known to travel the world and engage in irl streams for his followers, demonstrating the culture of countries such as Japan and Scotland.
Now, the streamer has arrived in India, one of the most talked-about countries he desired to visit due to his obsession with Indian Cricketer Virat Kohli and the Tunak Tunak Man (Daler Mehndi).
Consequently, Speed arrived in Mumbai, India on October 12, 2023, and was spotted zipping around in a taxi. Later, he collaborated with the Indian rapper MC Stan in a freestyle session and even played cricket on his stream.
On the following day on October 13, Speed was hosted by the “Tunak Tunak” singer Daler Mehndi at his residence in New Delhi, where the two jammed to his hit track. However, due to “Policy Violations”, YouTube abruptly terminated the three-hour broadcast on October 12 and the one hour stream on October 13.
Here is what fans believe to be the primary cause for it.
IShowSpeed’s India stream gets suspended by YouTube
Fans are speculating that this is due to the copyrighted Bollywood music that IShowSpeed played during his taxi ride in Mumbai and the Daler Mehndi hit at his residence in New Delhi.
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Sources are saying reason is Copyright for playing Indian Music on stream.🚨
— IShowSpeed Reports (@IShowReports) October 12, 2023
Both the songs that he played in the taxi, namely Yo Yo Honey Singh’s Blue Eyes and Akon’s début Bollywood single Chammak Challo are owned by the record label T-Series.
During the broadcast IShowSpeed avoided playing copyrighted songs on the car radio, he ended up playing them on his speaker, which is the main theory behind the takedown.
However, Speed also danced to the tunes of Tunak Tunak with Daler Mehndi on October 13, where he eventually ended up playing several other copyrighted tracks owned by the same record label.
🚨| BREAKING: Speed’s stream has been taken down for violating YouTube’s policy on “spam, deceptive practices and scams”.The stream was Speed singing with the artist who created the song “Tunak Tunak Tun”. pic.twitter.com/NzHICDwylH
— Speedy HQ (@iShowSpeedHQ) October 13, 2023
This led to another suspension of his stream, although this time it was due to violating YouTube’s policy on “spam, deceptive practices and scams”.
It isn’t a permanent ban or anything like that, but Speed will have to be careful moving forward as strikes in quick succession can lead to a bigger problem.
However, he was recently unbanned by Twitch so he might have a fallback.