Popular #Gamergate supporter and memester, Mombot, was known for trolling the anti-gaming activist types and debunking a lot of the hogwash pushed around against gamers, the gaming industry, and geek culture. However, Mombot was recently permanently suspended from Twitter. At the time we were unsure what led to the suspension, but Brad Glasgow from Game Objective shed some light on what happened and why.
In a short five minute video posted on the Game Objective account, Glasgow rolled out the details of the suspension, and how Mombot had no plans to fight the DMCA claims made against the account that led to Twitter suspending Mombot. This means that the account will stay permanently suspended.
In a short e-mail to Glasgow, Mombot wrote the following…
“Hi Brad,
“I got suspended due to a Digital Millennium Copyright Act infringement.
“That is to say, some years ago I posted meme videos with clips of music in them.
“Sony now owns that msuic, and Sony lawyers are mass-reporting thousands upon thousands of Twitter accounts—for memes!”
So what was the infringing content? It was a Japanese show featuring a clip that featured Rage Against The Machine’s “Killing In The Name”.
The irony of an anti-establishment music group having an establishment corporation censor people for sharing a clip featuring music from an anti-establishment group is off the charts.
In any case, Brad Glasgow was kind enough to link to the original clip that sparked the copyright claims in the description of the video. You can check out the clip below courtesy of masa tanaka.
The clip was originally uploaded on YouTube back in March of 2016, but apparently Sony is going on a DMCA spree to get the clips removed from social media. This comes at the expense of having accounts shut down permanently, which is what happened to Mombot.
Even Glasgow couldn’t show any kind of imagery or depict any audio/visual representation from the clip without being instantly demonetized, which is why he had to link to the video on the other channel rather than showing it in his own video.
Additionally, Mombot shared the copyright notice from Twitter, providing information on the procedure to fight the claims and how it would require filing a counter-notice by going through the legal jurisdiction and the disclosure of personal information in order to restore the account.
In an e-mail to Glasgow, Mombot succinctly dispelled any inclination to fight the claims or seek a retraction, writing…
“No, I am not seeking retractions. Doing so would involve a legal battle with Sony over a meme video.
“Learning to win at yelling into the internet’s toilet was fun, but I am glad it is over!”
Glasgow responded asking if this meant the end of Mombot, and the reply he received was “Correct”.
This definitely gives us a taste of what a post Article 13 internet will look like if this keeps up.
It’s also safe to say that the end of Mombot’s era has arrived, and the account is being sunset for good… and it was all because of Sony.
(Thanks for the news tip Lyle and CZ)
