YouTube Copyright Strikes Hit Anime Reaction Channels: Counter-Notice Is the Only Fix

A wave of DMCA takedown requests aimed at anime reaction channels pulled dozens of YouTube videos offline this month, and YouTube has confirmed it will not rule on whether any of them are fair use. The platform's position, given on the record on 11 September, is that it takes content down when it receives a valid legal request and leaves the dispute to the two parties. That leaves the counter-notification as the only lever a creator actually has.

The notices were filed by Remove Your Media, a copyright enforcement firm whose legal representative, Evan F. Stone, said on the record that Viz Media and Crunchyroll are among its biggest anime clients. Stone said the firm reports thousands of allegedly infringing links every day, some forwarded by rights holders and others found through online searches. Crunchyroll did not answer questions about whether it hired the firm, and Viz Media declined to comment on the record.

How many videos actually came down?

Creator Nicholas Light said in emailed comments that more than 60 of his videos were temporarily removed after he received over a dozen copyright strikes stemming from the firm's takedown requests. He told viewers on 6 September that his channel faced deletion. Two days later he confirmed YouTube had cleared the strikes and his 1.3-million-subscriber channel would stay up.

The couple behind the Rice & Ginger channel posted a similar warning, saying their account had been flagged hundreds of times and was scheduled for deletion on 10 September. The channel was still online that day. Light said their removed videos were due back within 10 business days.

What is YouTube's actual position?

YouTube policy communications manager Jack Malon said the company "does not decide who owns the rights to content." Videos come down when a rights holder submits what YouTube treats as a valid and legal takedown request, because the platform has to comply with copyright law. Uploaders who believe they have the right to use the material, including under fair use, are pointed to the counter-notification form.

Malon said that once a counter-notification is filed, videos can be restored and strikes resolved if the rights holder does not come back with proof of legal action to restrain the content. That puts a clock on the claimant rather than the creator. It also requires the creator to swear to the claim under penalty of perjury.

Is a reaction video fair use?

That part is contested and unsettled. The creators say their videos are transformative commentary and free promotion for series that get little marketing outside Japan. Stone argued the opposite on the record: commentary alone does not make the use transformative when a video shows the copyrighted work in its entirety, much of it sourced from behind a paywall, and when some viewers watch the reaction instead of the licensed release.

Stone also said the firm prioritised channels it views as feeder traffic for paywalled copies, and that a creator who believes a specific notice was sent in error should use the counter-notice, which he said works. No court has ruled on any of these particular videos, and the accusations traded publicly between creators and the firm remain claims, not findings.

What should a creator do right now?

• Open the copyright tab in YouTube Studio and note the exact claimant name and the flagged timestamps, not just the number of videos hit.
• File a counter-notification only for videos you can genuinely defend. It is a sworn statement, and blanket counter-notices across full-episode uploads are precisely what the claimant says it is seeing.
• Expect roughly 10 business days before a restored video reappears if the claimant does not respond.
• Watch the strike count, not the video count. Three live strikes terminate a channel, so a withdrawn or expired strike matters more than one video coming back.

The fight lands while platforms are courting the same creators they police. YouTube has been offering creators large payouts to stay off rival streamers, IMDb just added a digital creator category that needs no film or TV credits, and short-form apps are writing fresh AI and IP rules after the MPA guardrails deal with ByteDance. Anime is a growing share of the streaming schedule too, with titles such as Fool Night landing on Netflix in November.

Nothing in YouTube's stated policy changed this month. What changed is the volume, and the fact that one enforcement firm can put a million-subscriber channel a few notices from deletion while the platform stays out of the argument.