Copyright Enforcement Is Hard: Mr. Beast Apologizes For Copyright Strikes On Reaction Videos

While not super common, we have seen issues surrounding copyright claims or negative reactions to so-called reaction videos." These videos essentially take content that is out there, typically on the internet, and then react to them in a video providing either additional context for the content or a reaction to it. Sometimes those reaction videos include small snippets of the content in question, in order to comment on it. Pure fair use stuff, in other words. But sometimes, especially when the videos are reacting to leaked content that some person or organization doesn't want out there, copyright strikes or DMCA notices are used to try to bury this sort of protected speech.

Now couple that occasional issue with the much more prevalent problem of the nuances of enforcing copyrights being really hard to navigate and you wind up in the exact position famed YouTuber Mr. Beast was in having to apologize to a bunch of fans who had made reaction videos that got copyright strikes.

In apost on Twitter/Xon December 12, creator Thinknoodles' explained that their upload reacting to MrBeast's World's Most Deadliest Lazer Maze' video was copyright claimed by Spotter' - the company that holds the license to the YouTube star's content.

Others chimed in within the comments to that post noting that they too had had reaction videos about Mr. Beast content struck down over copyright. All of a sudden, it appeared that YouTube's biggest star was clamping down on perfectly legitimate videos that didn't violate his copyright at all, or at least would have obviously qualified as fair use.

But, fortunately, it appears that Mr. Beast had no interest in knocking out these sorts of videos. In fact, he downright encouraged the creation of more of them.

While the copyright strikes on these videos weren't valid to begin with, it is still quite nice to witness a content creator both engage directly with fans and those affected by these copyright strikes while also getting the issue corrected and actively supporting and wanting more of this content to begin with. Mr. Beast seems to understand that reaction videos like this only serve to keep his name in lights and his content circulating. Couple that with his human and awesome engagement directly with his fans and it's not hard to understand why the reaction he got from all of this was quite positive.

I was getting my videos claimed so I stopped reacting to you, but this is awesome news and definitely will be bringing back my MrBeast reactions!" one wrote. Time to start a new channel only reacting to MrBeast videos," said another.

This is a positive outcome for Mr. Beast, both reputationally as well in fostering more interest in his content. It sucks that his partner company couldn't be bothered to be more well-informed as to what they were striking for copyright, but at least it gave him the chance to be good to his fans.