LIRIK slams “ridiculous” Twitch DMCA strikes after wiping his channel

Twitch streamer Saqib ‘LIRIK’ Zahid was left upset after the newly introduced DMCA crackdowns on the platform meant one of his old videos was given a copyright strike, thereby forcing him to “nuke” his old content in order to protect his channel.

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Many streamers and fans alike were left furious when people revealed they were receiving DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act) takedown requests from Twitch, particularly with regard to the playing of music.

However, the DMCA strikes were not just affecting recent content. VODs dating back years were being flagged for playing copyrighted music, no matter how briefly.

Devastatingly, this means many streamers have been left with no choice but to delete colossal amounts of old content, as it’s impossible to sift through each VOD individually before Twitch flags it.

LIRIK receives a DMCA copyright strike

Many creators announced that they would be having to purge their channels, like Pokimane who said she would be removing her past VODs after rumors circulated that LIRIK would need to do the same.

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LIRIK is a hugely popular streamer with over 2.7 million followers on his Twitch channel, playing a huge variety of games for his thriving community of supporters. He’s been on the platform since 2011, naturally meaning he’s built a substantial backlog of content over that time.

In his October 30 stream, he said: “I had to nuke everything yesterday. All VODs, all clips were deleted. I feel like my channel’s naked. Oh my god, it f***ing hurt so bad man but it had to happen. Like everything f***ing nuked.”

Explaining the reason he’d finally decided to purge his channel, Lirik added: “I got one strike yesterday from a 2016 clip for a DMX song. And it’s like what? I don’t remember. When the f**k did I play DMX? It’s just ridiculous.”

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LIRIK along with his mods are saving the VOD files and uploading them to YouTube, but with 9 years of content to go through, the task will be a mammoth undertaking.

The move will no doubt add fuel to the anger towards Twitch for the sudden and rather unforgiving DMCA takedowns, but whether the process will be changed as a result of the outrage remains to be seen.