The Verge issues copyright claims against multiple YouTube videos criticizing its infamous PC build video

YouTube can be a powerful platform for sharing information, especially with the penchant we as a society have for visual and auditory media. However, YouTube can be just as equally powerful in spreading information that receives a negative viewer response, as was the case with a video posted by The Verge this past September. While that video was heavily criticized when it was released last fall, it quickly fell out of the consciousness of the PC building community. However, that video is making headlines once again; Vox Media, the parent company of The Verge, has issued multiple copyright strikes on videos that criticized the PC build tutorial.

Many YouTube channels popular in the PC enthusiast community, such as Paul’s Hardware and Gamers Nexus, called out Vox Media and The Verge for the copyright claims. The claims were filed against multiple channels, most notably Bitwit and ReviewTechUSA (which have over 1.3 million and 800,000 subscribers, respectively). Each of the channels involved received copyright claims on videos they had posted criticizing, parodying, or otherwise portraying in a negative light The Verge’s PC build video.

After facing a massive negative response from viewers, YouTubers, and others when the video was posted last September, The Verge disabled comments before removing the video entirely. According to its critics, the video contained factual errors and demonstrated PC building practices that could possibly result in damaging the physical hardware of a computer should they be followed.

Vox Media issued the copyright claims over the past week. Many in the tech community saw this as odd considering the video is five months old at this point and no longer exists on the platform. YouTube initially issued a copyright strike to some of the channels that received claims. Kyle of Bitwit was forced to remove his parody video due to the copyright strike. (As a quick note, a copyright strike can demonetize a video’s ad revenue, reroute ad revenue to the claimant of the copyright violation, or result in the removal of a video or entire channel.)

It appears that YouTube has since found these claims to be specious and has reversed the copyright strikes on the affected channels. Responding to the channels that received the copyright strikes, YouTube judged that the videos in question were criticisms or parodies and constituted fair use under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA).