https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rHeq3wuAtQQ ANI Slammed For 'Extortion' By YouTube Creators Over Copyright Strikes | Mohak Mangal vs ANI
HW News English
You tube transcript (under edit) copyright fair use theft and extortion
these are some of the words trending on
social media courtesy Asian News
International they're a 55-year-old
Indian news agency they have reporters
and bureaus spread across the country
ani claims to be South Asia's largest
multimedia agency it offers tech stories
videoes packages live syndicated feeds
to its paid subscribers several big
media houses have paid access to ANI
content which they use on their
platforms notably ANI is seen to be very
close to the government with fairly
ready access to union ministers and even
interviews with Prime Minister Narendra
Modi now this agency finds itself at the
receiving end out of lot of criticism
flack from YouTube creators and small
independent digital media channels one
by one several individuals have taken to
social media saying how ANI is extorting
money from them threatening them under
the garb of copyright because these
creators used ANI's clips just for a few
seconds hello and welcome i'm Shubam
Chahan let's get started now this ANI
versus digital creators row over
copyright resurfaced yesterday that is
when YouTuber Mohawk Mongol put out a
video he makes detailed videos about
current affairs and has over 4.16
million subscribers in his video Dear
ANI he said two of his videos got
copyright strikes by ANI recently he had
posted these videos long back and used a
few seconds of ANI footage mo says he
wrote to ANI before a third strike in
response the news agency demanded 45 lak
rupees plus GST to have these copyright
strikes removed else his channel will be
deleted
45st now for context whenever a video
gets a copyright strike on YouTube the
video in question is taken down
completely three copyright strikes on a
YouTube channel within 90 days is
trouble the creator then has 7 days to
sort out things during which new videos
cannot be uploaded on the channel if not
at the end of 7 days the channel gets
deleted done for good but does that mean
you cannot use any content from someone
else's video that's not true entirely
the Copyright Act of 1957 permits using
copyrighted material under something
called fair dealing section 52 allows
use of copyrighted material for
criticism commentary news reporting but
in practicality there is some slight
ambiguity in the online world as to what
and how much exactly does fair use
consists of at the same time it's
important to note that a creator or
channel is well within their right to
strike a channel if there is a copyright
violation after all it is someone's
original content it cannot be used just
like that for earning revenue so what
exactly is the problem then now the way
ANI is going about asking for money for
huge amounts of money threatening
deletion of a channel altogether if that
amount is not paid and there are two
sides to this first in favor of ANI the
argument is plain and simple you use
their content without license so be
ready to be penalized the penalty amount
and all the modalities is ANI's
discretion but if you want to use their
content pay for their membership which
supposedly started a few lakh rupees but
the other side is how this is playing
out even beyond penalty and this is not
just about +Moak Mongol aayushikar of the
Reporters Collective reported the plight
of several creators last week who have
had to and are going to cuff up lacks of
rupees so that ANI withdraws the strike
and their channel is safe and intact in
fact we here at HW News English 2 were
in a similar situation a few years back
we ended up paying a huge amount huge in
context of a small and digital channel
like ours in order to resolve the matter
but back to the report Aayushika takes a
look at not just what the creators have
to say but also the role of YouTube and
how ANI is using a loophole in the
copyright policy of YouTube in India to
shut down digital channels if they don't
pay money in return now YouTube says
they have a process in place for
copyright claims publicly the platform
says they follow the 1998 digital
millennium copyright act of America
globally and this has its own categories
of exemptions under fair use and news is
one of them but in actuality things are
different as this report shows now
YouTube told TRC that they don't decide
who owns the rights to a particular
content and through their tools they
they ensure that both parties can
challenge or dispute the copyright part
now the reporters collective found that
contrary to YouTube's claims YouTube
does take the first call in copyright
cases and then leaves it to the creator
to dispute the content in other words
this means that the creator's video is
pulled down altogether beforehand that's
what they say so that YouTube itself
avoids any sort of legal trouble after
all ANI or anyone for that matter can
hold YouTube legally responsible for
giving the platform to someone who's
involved in copyright infringement so
what is the last resort for a creator
deal with the agency directly or if
you're powerful and wealthy enough go to
court now everyone knows how lengthy and
expensive that process is of course
YouTube in their response said they do
not adjudicate copyright cases and only
abide with the necessary copyright laws
ani on its part maintains that charging
a penalty for unauthorized use of
content isn't extortion in fact the news
agency said as the exclusive copyright
holder of its content ANI has the sole
right to communicate its work to the
public or license its use enforcing
these rights through mechanisms like
YouTube's copyright policy or legal
action is not extortion it is the lawful
protection of property as guaranteed by
copyright law anyone disputing our
rights is free to seek legal recourse
now in mock Mongol's case the creator
said that ANI told them that there were
a total of eight copyright strikes and
the ask in this case was 45 lakh rupees
plus GST and an annual subscription of
ANI the creator's representative said
they cannot afford or recover that kind
of an amount what followed were
negotiations between the creators
representative and ANI the ANI employee
was giving some discounts here and there
like 40 lakh rupees plus GST for an ANI
subscription for 2 years or 30 lakh
rupees for one year when the creator's
representative asked for a breakup of
what this 40 lakhs is where did it come
from the ANI employee said eight of the
creators videos have got a strike five
lakh rupees is just a subscription cost
multiply that by eight and there you
have it in fact in the YouTubers
comments like we pointed out earlier
several YouTubers expressed their
solidarity and said how they were prone
to a similar extortion bid by news
agency
you know the crazy
thing you can delete my channel you can
ban me on YouTube you can take away my
titles everything I know or that I will
be successful no matter what and you
know what
which is why I wrote an email to the PMO
and to INB minister
Ashwani this is the exact screenshot of
the email I
sent it's not in my control
now these are the two sides of the story
that we had uh to present in front of
you in terms of what ANI has said and
done and what the creators are facing
the question is the kind of money been
involved and more importantly how it is
being negotiated and how ANI is
threatening creators like the creators
said they've been threatened by news
agency ANI over a few seconds which is
costing them now lacks of rupees that's