Escape From Tarkov developer Battlestate Games has issued 47Â DMCA claims against YouTuber "Eroktic" over spreading incorrect information and expressing overall negativity about their game.
Escape From Tarkov developer Battlestate Games has issued 47 DMCA claims against YouTuber "Eroktic" over spreading incorrect information and expressing overall negativity about their game.
This isn't the first time DMCA notices have been used as a way for developers to remove content that expressed a particular view, with Firewatch developer Campo Santo issuing a takedown last year (albeit under different circumstances).
This is pretty notable, as it seems most DMCA notices usually revolve around piracy, copyright, or unfair use of content for monetization, not over false information.
As reported by Polygon, Battlestate Games claims they had no other choice but to file a takedown against Eroktic for reportedly uploading inaccurate video claiming that user information (including passwords and personal information) had been leaked from the company databases.
The studio claims the misinformation was damaging to the company. "The reason why we acted so strong and so quick is that we had to stop this misinformation about the data leak,” a representative of Battlestate’s public relations team, told Polygon.
The videos are no longer available on YouTube following the claims, and Eroktic has since tweeted explaining that at least 47 of his videos have DMCA claims against them. Battlestate claims they were justified in filing all these claims because of "negative hype" being expressed in the videos.
However, it's worth noting that Battlestate knew only two of Eroktic's videos contained rumors of a security breach. The other 40-plus videos it filed DMCA claims against were pulled because of their tone. "We had to use this tool in order to stop the wave of misinformation."
Going forward, rather than issuing DMCA claims in the future, the Battlestate representative said they will employ more traditional lawsuits for things like defamation instead.
"It’s not about making content,” they continued. “It’s about false accusations. It’s about lies. It’s about misinformation. We don’t want to scare off anybody, it was applied to only this person and only in this case."
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