In response to the swaths of negative criticism being directed towards a deleted Captain Marvel scene, Disney has begun to issue copyright strikes against YouTubers using footage of the clip in their commentary videos.
On May 30th, Jeremy Griggs, owner and founder of the geek-culture website Geeks + Gamers, announced and provided evidence in a tweet that Disney had blocked his Captain-Marvel-deleted-scene criticism video through the use of YouTube’s copyright-strike system:
Lol Disney just blocked my reaction to the Captain Marvel assault trailer.
Thank you for proving my point correct once again. Protect Queen Brie at all costs pic.twitter.com/WIR7TUugLH
— Jeremy (@DDayCobra) May 30, 2019
Griggs was not the only one hit by the copyright strike, as other YouTubers reported that their criticism videos had also been blocked by Disney, including Matt Jarbo, aka MundaneMatt:
Disney issued in copyright claim over a video where I discussed the deleted, #CaptainMarvel scene. I used minimal footage, and no audio when discussing the actions of the male actor in that scene. pic.twitter.com/ptb7blUG02
— Matt Jarbo (@mjarbo) May 30, 2019
YouTube Critic MauLer:
EFAP #26 Ft @iamrobothead has been claimed by the mouse for criticising the villainous Captain Marvel. I am rendering out a censored version for the Mooler channel, until then you can still watch the unlisted version on my main channel – https://t.co/bmGB9xbOkX
— MauLer (@MauLer93) May 31, 2019
YouTube Channel Fan Advocacy Network:
Hey @Disney, you know perfectly well that my video was transformative and you still manually ID claimed my video to block it. Pathetic. @TeamYouTube, you have got to do something about these companies abuse your system. It should be 30 hours to respond, not 30 days. Ridiculous. pic.twitter.com/Xpo2Ddbt1B
— Fan Advocacy Network (@Fan_Advocacy) May 30, 2019
Julie, the owner of the YouTube channel WishedUpon AVlog:
@DDayCobra Hey Jeremy, can you maybe help with this as I am mind boggled lol I got an email from YouTube saging my captain marvel thinks she is terminator is now blocked and cant be viewed by anyone, any idea why they did this? would apprecaite it as I have no idea with claims pic.twitter.com/JTMj9W30p0
— Julie (YouTuber) 🔮 (@wishuponavlog87) May 30, 2019
And YouTuber That Star Wars Girl, who notified her audience of the strike in a YouTube video:
While YouTube’s copyright system exists to prevent users from making money from the unauthorized use of copyrighted content, the videos struck by Disney fall under the category of fair use, which is also supported by YouTube, who defines fair use as including “works of commentary, criticism, research, teaching, or news reporting.” While YouTube does state that one focus of fair use is the “transformative” quality of the content and “whether it adds new expression or meaning to the original, or whether it merely copies from the original,” they also note that “Even if you’ve added a little something of your own to someone else’s content, you might not be able to take advantage of the fair use defense — particularly if your creation fails to add new expression, meaning, or message to the original.”
The videos initially struck by Disney remain unavailable on each creator’s respective YouTube channels, though some have already begun the process of appealing their respective claims. As of writing, no official statement regarding these copyright claims has been issued by Marvel, Disney, or YouTube.
What do you make of these copyright claims against the YouTubers?