YouTube has made two significant decisions recently, one positive and one negative. The positive decision was to stand up for a YouTuber, Totally Not Mark, against a giant company, Toei, in a copyright dispute. YouTube fought on behalf of the creator and ultimately resolved the issue in his favor, allowing him to restore most of his content.
On the negative side, YouTube announced plans to introduce NFTs (non-fungible tokens) to the platform, despite widespread criticism and a lack of demand from users. The decision is seen as out of touch with the community and may be driven by a desire to appease corporations and advertisers. The introduction of NFTs comes after YouTube removed the dislike button, a decision that has been widely panned by creators and users.
Here are the key facts extracted from the text:
1. YouTube stood up for a YouTuber named "Totally Not Mark" in a copyright dispute with Toei Animation.
2. Toei Animation had previously taken down 150 of Mark's videos, claiming copyright infringement.
3. YouTube initially did not allow Toei to strike Mark's channel 150 times for each instance of alleged copyright infringement.
4. Toei then used a different method to manually take down the 150 videos, violating YouTube's policy.
5. YouTube eventually intervened and blocked the 150 videos in Japan only, as Toei was arguing that they were not fair use under Japanese law.
6. Mark has since had most of his videos restored, except in Japan.
7. Toei can still fight the decision and may try to argue that the 150 videos are a complete violation of copyright law and not fair use.
8. YouTube is planning to introduce NFTs (non-fungible tokens) to the platform, although the details are not yet clear.
9. Twitter recently introduced an NFT system for profile pictures.
10. YouTube removed the dislike button from videos, which has been met with criticism from some creators and users.
11. The removal of the dislike button was reportedly done to prevent targeted harassment campaigns, but some argue that it doesn't solve the problem and only helps YouTube look better to advertisers and corporations.