A YouTube channel that frequently tried to extort creators on the platform recently has been deleted.
The channel constantly exploited the copyright strike system on YouTube against creators by striking videos and demanding money to remove them.
In a report by BBC, YouTubers Kenzo and ObbyRaidz had some of their Minecraft related content hit by the copyright strikes. Afterwards, they received messages from the channel that demanded payments of $75 to $400 to be sent via Paypal and Bitcoin.
If a YouTube channel receives more than three strikes, it's automatically deleted by YouTube.
But instead of paying up senselessly, Kenzo took to social media and reached out to YouTube’s official accounts to ask for help.
hello @TeamYouTube
— Kenzo (@KenzoPvP) January 30, 2019
I have two false copyright strikes on my channel & someone out there is extorting me for my money to have the strikes removed. help. pic.twitter.com/pNmzNH34Ff
ObbyRaidz made a video for his own channel highlighting the issue.
“Anybody can 'make spurious copyright claims'. They made it so easy to take somebody's channel down, they strike a few videos and your channel is terminated," ObbyRaidz said.
"The way I look at it, YouTube just put a Band-Aid on a much bigger issue. This is something that can affect more channels in the future and they need to fix this right now.”
