Some YouTube video creators have found themselves on the unhappy side of copyright law recently as they say that Activision has been issuing copyright strikes on videos showing glitches and exploits in Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare.
Over the weekend, popular gaming video network Machinima issued a warning to its creators, telling them that "Activision is being particularly vigilant about their Call of Duty videos lately, issuing strikes on videos showing glitches... please be careful." Under YouTube's copyright strike system, accounts start losing certain privileges after a single copyright strike goes through, and could be banned altogether after three such strikes (though strikes can be challenged or expunged by going through Youtube's Copyright School).
To be fair, Activision doesn't seem to be taking down every video that shows glitches or exploits in Advanced Warfare; there are still dozens if not hundreds readily available through a quick search. In a statement, Activision said it was that it was specifically targeting "videos that promote cheating and unfair exploits"—that is, videos that highlight how to gain advantages in online matches. "As always, we keep an eye out for these videos—our level of video claims hasn't changed. We are appreciative of the community's support in helping to ensure that everyone has the best playing experience possible."
Machinima expanded on its warning to video creators in its own statement: "Recently Machinima notified its network partners that posting content about Call of Duty videos may receive a strike if flagged by Activision. Machinima was prompted to take this action in order to inform its network partners so that they would remain in good standing on YouTube. When a channel receives a certain number of strikes it is possible that they may be blocked as a YouTube partner. Machinima's actions are to protect not only its network partners, but its publisher partners as well."
The creators of YouTube's vast swaths of gaming content have always operated at the uneasy pleasure of the developers and publishers that hold the copyright to the games themselves. Legally, those game makers can shut down the "public performance rights" for their game whenever they want, as Nintendo did when it briefly tried to take control of Let's Play videos of its games. Late last year, gaming videos on a number of Multi-Channel Networks were flagged for copyright violations by an overzealous ContentID system.
Still, this seems to be a biased use of the copyright system, with Activision allegedly going after certain types of embarrassing or damaging depictions of its games while allowing thousands of other videos that are more neutral or positive about the game. The approach has its limits, however; Activision would have no legal power over similar, text-based descriptions of those same exploits.
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