Update: Bungie Files Lawsuits Against Fraudulent YouTube Content Takedowns

Bungie has filed a lawsuit against defendants accused of sending fraudulent takedown notices against Destiny 2 videos and publicly called out YouTube’s DMCA process.

Just recently this month, a string of unwarranted Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) takedowns happened to many Destiny content creators on YouTube, even going so far to takedown official videos posted by Bungie’s own account. Resulting from that mess, Bungie has filed a lawsuit against 10 people accused of submitting fraudulent reports that caused said takedowns.

Bungie even went on to publicly slam YouTube’s DMCA process, which is something just about everyone has been hating on for years. Bungie went on to say in a complaint filed in US District Court for the Western District of Washington:

“Defendants were able to do this because of a hole in YouTube’s DMCA-process security, which allows any person to claim to be representing any rights holder in the world for purposes of issuing a DMCA takedown.”

Bungie continued by saying any person, anywhere in the world, can issue takedown notices on behalf of any rights holder, anywhere whether or not they are affiliated with the organizations in question. What this means is that anyone without relation to Bungie in this case, can make a fraudulent report and that video can still be taken down, even without breaching any rules to cause it.

Bungie will be suing the 10 unnamed defendants for US$150,000 for each Fraudulent Takedown Notice, over damages and injunctive relief.

While the case is still being investigated, the status of the videos taken down were confirmed to be fraudulent and will eventually return which is great news for the content creators affected. It’s good to see a developer actively pushing against bigger corporations bullying its users, and who knows, this might actually force YouTube to update its DMCA policies.

In other Destiny-related news, check out our list of the best weapons we found so far in The Witch Queen expansion.