Twitch explains confusing copyright crackdown, urges users to delete videos

Enlarge / Photo illustration of the Twitch logo on a smartphone. (credit: Getty Images | Thomas Trutschel)

Twitch today apologized to users for how it handled a copyright crackdown last month, but the site still told streamers that they will have to stop using copyrighted recordings to avoid further takedown notices. Twitch-the popular game-streaming site acquired by Amazon for $970 million in 2014-was forced to take more aggressive action on copyright by record labels. But Twitch's mishandling of the crackdown left users in a state of confusion about which videos violated copyrights and about how users can comply with the rules without simply deleting all their past videos.

In a blog post today, Twitch said users have been asking how they can stream "without having to worry about getting DMCA [Digital Millennium Copyright Act] notifications from music use." The answer is that users need to stop using recorded music on their streams if they don't own the copyrights and delete old videos that have copyrighted music in them.

Twitch explained:

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