At the beginning of January 2025, American streamer Darren “IShowSpeed” Watkins Jr. announced that he had reached an agreement with a One Piece producer to stream the anime on his channel. While some have expressed doubt about the validity of this claim, this would mark a massive step forwards for how livestreaming handles copyrighted content. In the context of this news, Streams Charts has taken a look to the past of how copyright issues have evolved in the livestreaming industry.
Across multiple decades, copyright enforcement and moderation has been a hot topic for livestreaming and video-sharing platforms. Moderating livestreamed content has proven a challenge for many, with platforms forced to rely on automated systems due to the massive amount of content uploaded every minute. While the technology behind these systems have improved over the years, the expectations of moderation have also grown as these platforms gain traction, attention, and viewers.
How content moderation has changed on streaming platforms
The early days
In the early days of livestreaming on Twitch, content moderation was minimal. The platform allowed their streamers a long leash, and for the first few years of Twitch’s lifespan even chat moderation tools were not yet in place. YouTube Live’s launch, on the other hand, was slightly more moderated thanks to their own content identification system which was already developed. Twitch’s lax copyright stance changed significantly when they were acquired by Amazon in 2014 for close to one billion US dollars.
Twitch’s acquisition by Amazon brought more attention to the platform, which also carried scrutiny for their copyright enforcement systems. Under Amazon’s wing, Twitch began moderating their content on a much wider scale. The platform began muting copyrighted music in VODs with an automated system; a VOD (video on demand) was much easier to moderate than a live broadcast, and this is where Twitch began.
As Twitch grew and began offering streaming more robust monetization options, their copyright enforcement had to tighten up. If Twitch was to be seen as a legitimate entertainment business and maintain strong working relationships with sponsors, they had to reassure partners that copyright infringement would be taken seriously, as it is in other entertainment media. In 2017, Twitch partnered with content identification company Audible Magic to improve their audio recognition and expand their scope to include live broadcasts.
Across on YouTube, the platform also strengthened their copyright enforcement around the same time as Twitch. Copyright enforcement on the red platform allowed copyright holders to claim revenue in real time, but the site was still slow to respond to manual requests. Around 2017 and 2018, YouTube started treating infringements more punitively, banning many streamers who co-streamed pay-per-view sports broadcasts and expanded their copyright strike system to include livestreaming. The platform also began experimenting with AI-powered real-time moderation tools to both police chat messages and demonetize unlicensed content in a timely fashion.
The 2020 “DMCA Apocalypse” on Twitch
Following the COVID-19 pandemic and lengthy lockdowns around the world, online livestreaming exploded in popularity. People stuck at home found solace in livestreaming entertainment, with many creators effectively leveraging this period to grow at a rapid pace. While this golden age for livestreaming launched the industry to a mainstream level, this also meant that platforms had to flawlessly enforce copyright law to avoid legal issues.
In mid-2020, many Twitch streamers were taken aback by a sudden influx of DMCA takedowns on VOD content, sometimes years old. The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) updated United States law just before the turn of the millennium to future-proof copyright law for the age of the internet. While this law limits liability for platforms hosting user-uploaded content, these sites must moderate and uphold DMCA standards to avoid issues.
The sudden waves of DMCA takedowns largely came from issues with copyrighted music, with Twitch swarmed with manual takedown requests from copyright holders. Many streamers received multiple copyright strikes all at once, which put both their channel and livelihood at risk, and were forced to manually delete years of content under fear of punitive measures from Twitch.
It is INSANE that @Twitch informs partners they deleted their content - and that there is more content in violation despite having NO identification system to find out what it is. Their solution to DMCA is for creators to delete their life's work. This is pure, gross negligence. pic.twitter.com/mhdXU5lEc5
— Devin (@DevinNash) October 20, 2020
Many streamers expressed frustration at the vague nature of DMCA takedown requests
Streamers and content creators began voicing their frustrations due to a lack of clarity regarding what content exactly caused issues: Twitch only alerted streamers that a video was infringing on copyright law, not elaborating which exact part of the video was at issue. Creators also felt that Twitch was acting rather harshly, sometimes flagging years-old content that had long been forgotten about by the uploader.
Some musicians, especially those involved with the livestreaming sphere, stepped forward to allow streamers access to their libraries. Musician, and now-streamer, T-Pain allowed streamers access to his more recent catalogue of music; only musicians with full master rights could give permission themselves, T-Pain’s older music has “other peoples’ money involved”, in his own words. Others like KSI and 21 Savage also offered their libraries up to creators.
Twitch only continued to expand their enforcement of DMCA takedowns, even issuing creators strikes for in-game music. Twitch’s official stance was that streamers should mute in-game music, while streamers argued this fell under fair-use and that enforcing in-game music as copyrighted content went overboard. Twitch heard rumbles of their community losing support for the platform, and they began introducing measures to help streamers come to terms with this new moderation system.
The platform introduced a mass deletion tool to help streamers remove flagged content, something which previously had to be done manually on a video-by-video basis, and they also launched Soundtrack by Twitch: a small library of licensed music. While these new products may have helped streamers adapt, they did not deal with the larger issue of copyright enforcement plaguing livestreamed content. Just three years later, Twitch would officially shut down the Soundtrack by Twitch product.
Industry comes to terms with newer, stricter copyright enforcements
Following the panic and discourse surrounding Twitch’s highly-publicized copyright enforcements, the industry began to come to terms with the new livestreaming normal. Royalty-free music and music licensing subscriptions grew in popularity, and many game developers began adding “streamer mode” to their games, which would remove licensed music as well as blurring nudity and other potentially problematic sights for livestreamers.
Worried about copyright issues when streaming or recording #Cyberpunk2077? Don’t be!
— Cyberpunk 2077 (@CyberpunkGame) November 23, 2020
We’ve prepared a feature for all of the content creators: “Disable Copyrighted Music”. Just toggle it on and you’ll be ready to go!
More details available here:https://t.co/pGMBJMvXKQ pic.twitter.com/FUt5TucRpD
Cyberpunk 2077 developers adapted and announced the “Disable Copyrighted Music” option for content creators before game release in late 2020
While Twitch’s sudden change to no-nonsense takedowns in 2020 was the cause of much controversy, YouTube has held a more moderate stance thanks to their established content identification system. Streamers on YouTube Live are given options to mute the affected audio portion if the copyright infringement regards licensed music, they can share the revenue with the copyright holder, and appeal the decision through YouTube.
Since 2020, both platforms have continued to develop their real-time content identification systems. Advancements in AI technology have driven both real-time automatic chat moderation, and more extensive and robust identification of copyrighted content. YouTube has also updated their Fair Use policy to allow some copyrighted content under stricter revenue-sharing. The platform has also expanded their music licensing options, allowing streamers to license music in advance.
While major livestreaming figures like YouTube and Twitch have aired on the side of caution in regard to upholding copyright law, other platforms have been more lenient. Kick, a livestreaming platform founded in 2022, entered the industry with a focus on more profitable revenue splits for streamers and a looser moderation system.
Kick has previously come under scrutiny for their “Other, Watch Party” category, which was previously called “Other, TV Shows & Movies”. Many felt the platform was encouraging its creators to rebroadcast copyrighted media, which indeed occurred large-scale. Even now, browsing this category reveals many broadcasts streaming copyrighted content, especially Japanese anime.
What IShowSpeed’s announcement could mean for the industry
If it is indeed true that IShowSpeed has obtained the rights to broadcast One Piece, this would be a significant step forward for the industry. In the past year, livestreaming has increasingly become more mainstream, highlighted by collaborations between creators and traditional celebrities, such as Kai Cenat’s streams with American comedian and actor Kevin Hart. One Piece recognising the potential of marketing through IShowSpeed’s stream would be a testament to how livestreaming has gained the respect of traditional media.
Even if Speed does not broadcast One Piece in the end, it is likely only a matter of time until streamers are given the go-ahead by copyright holders to broadcast their content and expose it to a new, young, and digitally native audience. Riot Games has previously used co-streamers to advertise the season launch of their TV show, Arcane. The Season 2 premiere of the show was rebroadcast by many Twitch streamers, who simply had to disable VODs/Clips of the premiere to stream.
Riot Games understands the livestreaming industry well, but other more traditional copyright holders of TV shows and movies may soon follow suit. Allowing content creators to broadcast shows can field new audiences and increase the reach of the media. While some companies may be wary of losing revenue from viewers consuming content through a third-party broadcast, Riot Games’ limited approach towards their premiere exclusively is a solution, as well as modernized revenue sharing systems.
In the future, we could see companies offer licensed visual media through a library. Similar to the current music libraries which are popular in the livestreaming industry, streamers could pay to legally broadcast and react to copyrighted media. While major platforms like YouTube and Twitch must enforce copyright law to a high standard, not all other websites can be held to the same accountability. Hosting a library of dedicated media could be a future-proofed alternative to attempting to police all online broadcasts.
Esports broadcasting has already experienced the real advantages of these so-called watch parties. Popular streamers hosting watch-together streams can often be more popular than the official event broadcasts, with fans preferring the casual, social dynamic of the watch party. At last year’s League of Legends World Championship, non-official broadcasts reached almost 2.5M concurrent viewers at peak. This same concept of watch parties could be applied to the wider livestreaming industry and visual media, with streamers hosting broadcasts for movies, TV shows, and other content.
If IShowSpeed can broadcast One Piece legally on his stream, this would be a landmark move for livestreaming. As the industry continues to grow and reach a wider mainstream appeal, making use of this young audience to advertise media and content could become a reality for traditional media companies. The limits of livestreaming’s potential are yet to be found, and the sector continues to revolutionize online media around the globe.
