In The Wake Of PewDiePie Vs. Campo Santo: Exploring DMCA Takedowns And Their Legality

Well-known YouTuber Felix "PewDiePie" Kjellberg made headlines recently after using a racist slur during a livestream. In the uproar, Campo Santo, the developer of games like Firewatch, announced that it would leverage DMCA takedown requests to remove videos featuring its games from PewDiePie's channel. But just what is a DMCA, and was it legal for Campo Santo to use one?

In the video above, we dive into this subject, exploring what the DMCA is intended for, the implications of it being used in a case like this, and what the alternatives are. Among other people, we spoke with video game attorney Ryan Morrison to discuss the legality of DMCAs.

Before the takedown request on the Firewatch videos were made, Campo Santo co-founder Sean Vanaman called PewDiePie "worse than a closet racist." He also said, "There is a bit of leeway you have to have with the Internet when [you] wake up every day and make video games. There's also a breaking point. I am sick of this child getting more and more chances to make money off of what we make." PewDiePie has since apologized, saying, "I'm not going to make any excuses as to why it [happened], because there are no excuses for it."

Amid these issues, Firewatch's Steam listing was recently review bombed, as PewDiePie fans dragged down its average user review score by flooding the store with negative scores. Valve in turn explained what it's doing about review-bombing on Steam.