Hello,
ANI admits to court it extracted up to Rs 45 lakh from YouTube creators to settle its claims of alleged copyright infringement.
Last month, in my two part investigative series I uncovered how ANI has found a business niche in coercing Indian YouTubers into expensive licensing plans and penalties. Under the threat of permanently shutting down their YouTube channels.
Since then, the revelation of ANI’s negotiation tactics has sparked outrage in the content creator community, prompting several creators to publicly speak out against ANI. The latter has taken popular YouTuber Mohak Mangal, who was the first to expose ANI after our story, to court for defamation.
In our follow up to the series we reveal that evidence submitted by ANI to the court in fact validates our story. Contracts submitted with the court reveal that ANI has in the past charged YouTubers as high as Rs 45 lakh a year for penalties and licenses for reportedly infringing their copyright.
We further reveal the secretive nature of these contracts. We also chronicle the aftermath of our report where ANI tries to justify its right to charge such penalties for their content.
Our new story chronicles the new frontier that is opening in litigation between traditional media and content creators. And how YouTube's silence over its copyright violation policy in India is being used by ANI for easy profits.
Read our new story here: ANI Shares with Court: It Has Taken up to Rs 45 Lakh from YouTubers
Read part 1 of the story here: ANI Finds Business Niche In Copyright Claims Against YouTubers
Read part 2 of the story here: YouTube Says it Doesn’t Judge Claims of Copyright Violation. We Found it Does.
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Ayushi Kar
Reporter