PewDiePie ‘annoyed’ by bizarre YouTube copyright claim on Steve Irwin tribute

Even the most subscribed YouTuber, Felix ‘PewDiePie‘ Kjellberg is not above the nuisances of the often faulty copyright system on the platform, after a section of his video commemorating Steve Irwin was claimed.

As part of a near 17 minute video, Kjellberg played a small segment of footage from one of ‘crocodile hunter’ Steve Irwin’s TV shows, as he responded to controversy caused by PETA’s criticism of the beloved animal conservationist.

PETA received widespread backlash after claiming Steve Irwin died while “harassing” a sting ray, and PewDiePie was reviewing the many memes which had cropped up in response to PETA’s statements.

In a now removed section of the video, one of the memes was from an Instagram post, and used a section of Steve Irwin’s show, the rights of which apparently belong to Nine Entertainment Co.

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On March 6, PewDiePie was surprised to find that because of this short clip, on around 30 seconds of the entire 17 minute video, Nine Entertainment had claimed the monetization for the upload.

Although it’s somewhat legally ambiguous, PewDiePie’s inclusion of the footage would almost certainly be covered under fair use, given the video was transformative and was paired with his commentary and reaction.

It appears this segment of the video has now been entirely removed, and the video shortened. Only a matter of hours from his first Tweet, PewDiePie confirmed that the claim had been removed.

It’s yet another example of the copyright system on YouTube going awry, an issue PewDiePie himself has been vocal about in his other videos.

Although on this occasion it was cleared up within a matter of hours, PewDiePie’s large following and influence on the platform was likely a factor, and other, smaller creators may not have had such an issue resolved so quickly.