BTS Deletes 50k+ VODs on Twitch Fearing DMCA Strikes

BTS Deletes 50k+ VODs on Twitch Fearing DMCA Strikes

Vignesh Raghuram
Published On: 
  • BeyondTheSummit deletes over 50,000 VODs across their various channels fearing DMCA takedown notices.
  • Hundreds of partnered streamers/channels have received emails from Twitch as DMCA takedown notifications

It is undeniable that Beyond The Summit (BTS) has been one of the biggest reasons for the Dota 2 esports ecosystem developing into a goliath. The NA based studio broadcasted so many classic tournaments like Fistful of Tangoes, G1 league, etc which laid the foundations for the Dota 2 Pro Circuit. Unfortunately, all those VODs will be lost in the annals of history, after BTS was forced to delete all its VODs in fear of the aggressive DMCA takedowns that Twitch channels have been receiving.

RELATED:  WePlay! Withdraws Illegal DMCA Takedown Issued Against Brazillian Caster

Twitch Streamers/Channels Receive DMCA Takedowns

The DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act) takedown is a tool for copyright holders to get user-uploaded material that infringes their copyrights taken down off of websites. 

Over many years, Twitch streamers/channels inevitably have used copyrighted music or other types of copyrighted content during their streams. Over the last few weeks many of these channels were hit with a wave of DMCA takedown notices for featuring copyrighted content within their streams.

BTS Deletes 50k+ VODs on Twitch Fearing DMCA Strikes
Twitch's message about DMCA takedown notifications that multiple channels received

Several high-profile Twitch stars like TimTheTatman, Kaceytron, and others have had their videos deleted by the streaming platform without any prior notice.


Beyond The Summit (BTS) Deletes Over 50,000 VODs on Twitch

Fearing these DMCA takedowns, Dota 2 channel Beyond The Summit deleted years of VODs. Co-Founder David "LD" Gorman has claimed that over 50,000 VODs spanning multiple years have been deleted from Twitch, adding the BTS had to take these measures to ensure that the channel does not get banned from the website.

No content which was broadcast before October 24, 2020 is available on Beyond The Summit’s Twitch channels. 

BTS Deletes 50k+ VODs on Twitch Fearing DMCA Strikes
BTS has deleted years of Dota 2 content from its channels fearing DMCA takedowns

While this move by BTS might seem a bit excessive, it’s certainly not unwarranted. Twitch has not provided any tools to identify copyrighted content on Twitch channels VODs. Considering the fact that BTS had over 50,000 VODs that could potentially have copyrighted content, they would potentially be in danger of DMCA notices or a ban from the platform. So it’s just a proactive move to purge all its existing content, to protect its interests. 

Unfortunately, making this move just wiped years of Dota 2 content from the platform. While Beyond The Summit does have many of its VODs stored on its YouTube channel, some content is not available on that platform. So it certainly is saddening to see Dota 2 content being wiped from existence.


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It remains to see what effect it will have on BTS, moving ahead.



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Vignesh has been covering the esports industry for nearly 5 years starting with the early days of the DPC. His industry expertise includes experience in Dota 2, CS:GO and Mobile Esports coverage.

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