Once again IGN is in the news for stealing another creator’s content. Unlike the previous time where a freelance journalist was caught plagiarizing another creator’s review, they have no defense for their actions this time around. BabyZone runs a gaming channel on YouTube that focuses on walkthroughs, compilations and comparisons, mods, and custom animations that are considered deep fakes. As they are difficult to distinguish from actual official footage. Each of these video’s takes months to produce, so BabyZone watermarks each of them.
Three of his Mortal Kombat deep fakes were stolen by IGN and compiled into a singular video uploaded to Facebook.
As can be seen in the screenshots created by BabyZone, IGN zooms in clipping the majority of the watermark out, but are unable to fully remove it. Thus eliminating any possibility of this being an honest mistake.
According to BabyZone, he attempted to have the stolen content removed by Facebook, but the company refused to follow through on his DMCA claim. Despite it being clear the content comprising the video was lifted from his channel by the half cropped watermarks.
It’s a shame to see IGN stealing my DeepFake videos and trying to cut my watermark and then uploading to their facebook pages and getting million of views so making bunch of $$$ without even taking my authorization. I spend 3 weeks in average to make each deepfake and they just didnt bother and re-uploaded my videos without permission. I filled a DMCA take down and facebook protected them! if they stole a 500 subs channel content, I wonder how many smaller creators were stolen by IGN and none even noticed! What a Shame!
Later in the day, a trending post on /r/gaming that drew attention to the issue was removed by moderators. Despite the post not violating any of the rules or submission guidelines. YouTuber YellowFlash was able to capture the post following its censor.
Later in the day, BabyZone confirmed the offending post had been removed after a barrage of complaints.
Hi Guys, the two videos on IGN Brazil FB page were removed. Thank you for your help! I am still pissed off that FB didnt strike them when I filled a DMCA and they just made a bunch of views and money and still got away with it. If you see any other videos for other creators please inform them as their channel is full of plagiarism. To find my two videos I spend 2 hours going through their huge stolen library! I may have other videos stole from other games, who knows, but was tired to check that. Thank you for your support! Much appreciated!
Unfortunately, it was not because Facebook acted on the numerous reports and DMCA claim. IGN Brazil voluntarily removed the content and issued an apology via Twitter over the incident. Pledging to credit the original content creator when they profit from other’s content in the future.
Hello, @BabyZoneYT. From the IGN Brasil team, we are deeply sorry for this. We understand our mistake and we deleted the video. This is not going to happen anymore and we are committed to mention individual creators when we share videos in the future.
— IGN Brasil (@IGNBrasil) July 7, 2020
https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js
People hearing this tired old excuse were having nothing of it.
“We’re very sorry, we just made a few thousand from the stolen video”
You should pay the revenue back to the original owner.
— Shirrako (@ShirrakoGaming) July 7, 2020
https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js
A mistake implies someone didn’t know it was wrong to crop a watermark.
— Steven Brown (@Capitalistpig21) July 7, 2020
https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js
Did you copy and paste this from the last time you stole someone’s footage? C’mon, IGN… We’ve been here before. Please, you need to start being better than this.
— Sue DeNimm (@RhythmOfTheLost) July 7, 2020
https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js
Indeed, IGN are once again claiming a contracted party carried out the content theft. Theft that is so prolific BabyZone reports 75% of the Facebook page is comprised of it. With all revenue going to IGN and not the content creators who worked hard creating the content.
Hi guys, Thank you so much for your support. You never disappoint! Special thanks to reddit user RPNATOR for spreading the news on reddit and for every person who helped and showed support whether you were subbed to me, coming from reddit or twitter. RPNATOR: If you are reading this, thank you for your help and I am sorry the took down your reddit post for no valid reason (I dont follow on reddit much but this is what I heard). IGN said it’s their licensed partners who did this and they will dig more to see what happened. IGN Brasil have just tweeted this to apologize, do you think it’s enough? If you think it’s not enough, go on twitter and let them know. After all they get away with money and FB didn’t strike them when i filled the DMCA. And most importantly that page with over 75% of stolen content from youtubers is still there and generating money from the hard work of others… smh
Many thing are painfully evident in this situation. Once again IGN is exposed from stealing, and in this case poorly so, another content creators content and profiting from it. Facebook has demonstrated they are more than willing to ignore a DMCA request if it so suits them. Despite the law clearly stating protections will only be extended so long as expedient actions are taken. Reddit being censorious bootlickers is no surprise.
Beyond all the negatives there is a brilliant positive. When a content creator was victimized by a corporation, content creators and the community came together to get him justice. Even though he is only a small channel, the community has demonstrated the rules apply to everyone.
For the time being, IGN will continue to profit off other’s content, amply demonstrating the double standard that goes on with the DMCA process.
