News agency Asian News International (ANI) has been accused by content creators of trying to extort lakhs for a few seconds of their copyrighted video content, which the creator community argues is against the principle of fair use.
While some claim such a move aims to bulldoze smaller content creators, others argue that it is legally wrong to reuse someone else’s copyrighted material.
The amount being demanded allegedly by ANI has been in the range of a few lakhs for the use of small bits from their videos, claimed creators in the country, where content generation has emerged as a major income generation stream in the past few years.
The boom in content creation has seen new YouTube channels mushrooming, providing regular content on tech, politics, news, sports, reviews, et al.
YouTuber Mohak Mangal, who has over 4 million subscribers, was among the first to put out a video alleging an extortion attempt by an ANI employee. “ANI pressured me that if I don’t give Rs 50 lakh, then my channel will be deleted,” he alleged.
In an audio he played in the video, an ANI employee was purportedly heard saying, “You used strike footage without my permission, I put a claim on YouTube, (and) they have put a copyright strike. If you want to do it, do it, sir. You will surely lose your channel.”
NDTV could not independently verify the audio clip used in the video.
Mr Mangal claimed that the first copyright strike he had received from ANI was for using an 11-second ANI clip in his 16-minute video, followed by another for using a nine-second ANI clip in a 38-minute video on Operation Sindoor.
Rajat Pawar, another YouTuber with nearly 3.5 million subscribers, claimed that ANI has demanded Rs 18 lakh from him, and that his channel already has two strikes and a third may be on its way.
The content creator said he had reached out to ANI with a request to remove all their clips, and a promise to never use them again. However, they asserted he must get their subscription to get the strikes removed, he said.
Commenting on their videos, several popular YouTubers, including comedian Ashish Solanki and ‘Physics by Pankaj Sir’ – all with a subscriber base in millions, have expressed support for the creator community.
YouTuber Nitish Rajput, who has over 7 million subscribers, called on YouTube to take steps to ensure creators don’t end up feeling helpless after putting in years of hard work. Labour Law Advisor, who makes videos on personal finance and has over 5 million followers, said it takes immense courage to bring such practices to light.
“YouTube India must be held accountable and should ban ANI from its platform on grounds of blackmailing creator,” said comedian Kunal Kamra.
While ANI hasn’t officially commented on the allegations, its editor-in-chief Smita Prakash had shared a post taking a jibe at another YouTuber over copyright strikes.
What Is Copyright Strike
A copyright refers to an intellectual property whose exclusive legal right lies with its owner. Any usage of such content by others is restricted. YouTube, the most popular video streaming platform, has rules to protect such intellectual property of its creators.
“Creators should only upload videos that they have made or that they’re authorised to use. That means that they should not upload videos that they didn’t make, or use content in their videos that someone else owns the copyright to, such as music tracks, snippets of copyrighted programmes or videos made by other users, without necessary authorisations,” reads a YouTube policy on copyright.
The concept of fair use, however, argues in favour of reusing another’s copyrighted content, but it may be subject to the regional copyright laws, taking into account the purpose of such usage and the tenets of freedom of expression. In practice, smaller commentary channels often use bits from videos by bigger media outlets.
YouTube usually sends a warning to the channel if it finds any content violating its policies. This may include a first-party complaint by another user. However, if such violations are repeated within a 90-day period, the channel gets a copyright strike. The platform may choose to remove the content as well or demonetise it.
The first copyright strike bars the YouTuber from uploading videos and other content for a week, while a second strike within that 90-day window may extend the penalty to two weeks. A third strike may result in the channel being permanently removed, thus dealing a major blow to an individual’s content creation journey.
PTI’s Outreach
Amid the controversy, Press Trust of India (PTI), another news agency with a massive presence across the country, has issued a public statement, reaching out to YouTubers with an “affordable” offer to access its video content.
“As India’s most trusted news agency, we at Press Trust of India remain committed to credible journalism and ethical business practices. To support responsible content creation, we offer individual YouTube creators highly affordable access to PTI videos for your YouTube content and for use in other social media platforms,” said the statement.
The agency asked the content creators to contact its sales and marketing team if they want to access PTI content.
