Someone Is Apparently Abusing YouTube's DMCA Policy To Impersonate Nintendo, Take Down Fan Projects
Nintendo's copyright strikes are the bane of many YouTubers' existences. The mere inclusion of a gameplay clip - even without audio - can be enough to draw the attention of the company's legal department, and have your video taken down. However, the gaming giant might not be responsible for every Nintendo-related takedown, even if YouTube says the order came from Nintendo itself.
YouTubers who have had their content removed on copyright grounds, including one of the creators of the Kirby Reanimated Colab, claims that their videos were taken down by a third party abusing DMCA takedowns. This company, which doesn't have any clear links to Nintendo, has reportedly been targeting Nintendo content for years.
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The name of the company doing these takedowns is apparently A-PAB, and has been targeting Kirby creators in particular for some time. Allegations that A-PAB is the real entity behind the copyright claims date back to 2020, with one creator saying that they reached out to Nintendo and had received confirmation that it was not responsible for the strikes on their channel.
"Nintendo officially confirmed that they never flagged any Kirby video which makes me wonder what is the motive behind A-PAB's flagging", writes YouTuber OldClassicGamer. "All I know is that A-PAB also ruined many channels in Japan as well by false flagging. I am really hoping someone investigates this company because what they are doing is 100% DMCA abuse."
The company name apparently stands for "Association for Promotion of Advanced Broadcasting Services", but information on the entity is scarce. It was brought up during an investigation by fans to figure out why gameplay footage of Super Smash
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