A German YouTuber, Dominik “Domtendo” Neumayer, successfully defended his channel from a fake Nintendo lawyer’s DMCA takedown attempts. His channel, featuring play-throughs of popular games, faced removal after YouTube issued two strikes following complaints about his Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom videos. Neumayer, aware that three strikes would permanently remove his channel, noticed the suspicious nature of the takedown requests. They were signed by “Tatsumi Masaaki” from Nintendo’s legal department but sent from a personal ProtonMail account. This anomaly led him to challenge the claims, a risky move since most YouTubers avoid contesting DMCA notices due to the potential loss of their channels. YouTube’s data shows that about 6 percent of removals from July to December 2023 were abusive, with ten times more attempted abusive removals. However, the actual number might be higher as many users do not report abuse, fearing legal repercussions.
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