Many of Twitch‘s users, including its top content creators, are receiving DMCA claims purporting unauthorized use of copyrighted materials. With just three of these claims, even a massively popular and partnered Twitch streamer could be permanently banned. With little recourse, Twitch streamers are deleting years of clips and video recordings. Twitch is aware of the situation, and for the first time the company’s CEO is offering up a public apology.
Speaking live on-stream at GlitchCon, Twitch’s ongoing digital convention of sorts, Twitch CEO Emmett Shear first apologized for a recent statement made by the company. Shear said that the statement regarding the ongoing DMCA issue recently released by the streaming site didn’t provide help to Twitch streamers facing a takedown notice. He said Twitch should have provided help finding the specific content a takedown notice targets, as well as guidance regarding how to contest a DMCA notice made for authorized content. Shear calls it a “failing” Twitch didn’t provide this.
Shear also acknowledges that Twitch’s systems are inadequate in providing this information to Twitch streamers. Shear said that Twitch is currently working to improve these systems, but does not provide any information regarding specific improvements nor when they’ll be available.
Continuing from there, Shear goes on to explain the situation as it stands. Much of what he said was already explained in Twitch’s earlier statement, as he goes over how Twitch is facing an “unprecedented” amount of DMCA takedowns unlike anything the site has had to deal with before. He lays part of the blame at record labels’ feet, saying their decision to start striking content made years ago was entirely unexpected.
However, Shear doesn’t absolve Twitch of responsibility. He said that Twitch “should have had better tools ready for [streamers] to manage [their] content.” Shear apologizes that those tools weren’t ready when streamers needed them, and further that so many Twitch streamers had to delete their clips and VODs as a result.
There’s no way to bring those recordings back, and Twitch streamers are still left dealing with Twitch’s inadequate tools for the foreseeable future. Twitch’s CEO acknowledging the challenges that Twitch streamers are currently facing is better than not acknowledging them at all, but it doesn’t necessarily help Twitch streamers who are currently struggling. That’s ultimately the problem for many Twitch streamers, that Twitch has purportedly done everything it can to protect itself and little to protect streamers beyond apologizing. That’s a lesson Twitch‘s content creators likely won’t forget anytime soon.
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