Twitch Apologizes for Deletion of Poker Pro Videos

The online video live streaming service Twitch has apologized for deleting thousands of hours worth of their video content from top poker players.

The company recently took a hard line with DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act) claims protecting access to any creative work without due payment, Kevin Martin of PokerTube reports.

Much of the issue revolved around music playing in the background, nearly all of which is copyrighted.

Here is the apology issued by Twitch:

The following statement was necessary, but still does little to help the situation beyond making any future expectations clear. 

Your frustration and confusion with recent music-related copyright issues is completely justified. Things can–and should–be better for creators than they have been recently. The next few tweets will outline our plan for being better partners to creators. 

We shouldn’t blame Twitch because the new situation has been forced upon them without any warning. Only as far back as May 2020 the rate of DMCA claims was in the region of 50 per year. This quickly escalated to thousands per week.

Obviously something had to be done to prevent a tsunami of legal action coming their way.

Popular streamer Kevin Martin spoke to PokerNews to give his thoughts.

- Nagesh Rath, Gambling911.com