Destiny Copyright Takedowns Go Rogue, Are Even Hitting Bungie Videos

A “series of copyright takedowns” have been striking the Destiny community since late last week, taking down musical videos hosted on YouTube. While normally this kind of action comes at the request of a publisher or studio, in this case Bungie says it has nothing to do with them.

The issue was first raised in this Reddit thread last week, when it was noticed that the work of a number of prominent Destiny “music archivists” was being removed, a particular sore point for the community since their channels were helping preserve the soundtracks to pieces of content — from both Destiny games — that were no longer available in the games themselves.

Things escalated from there over the next few days, with more and more soundtrack videos removed from the channels of more and more community members and creators, before the takedowns even began extending to clips people had uploaded of cutscenes from the game that merely had pieces of the soundtrack playing in the background.

The takedowns don’t just mean we’ve lost — even if it’s just temporary — access to these soundtracks, but that a number of members of the Destiny community now have copyright strikes against their YouTube accounts as well.

Blame for the takedown spree was originally laid by members of the community at the feet of CSC, an affiliate partner of Bungie. But when matters escalated even further, and Bungie’s own videos began getting hit, it was clear something was up. A statement issued by the company earlier today reads:

We’re aware of a series of copyright takedowns on YouTube and we’re actively investigating. This includes content on our own Bungie channels. These actions are NOT being taken at the request of Bungie or our partners. Please standby for future updates.

The wording of that tweet — with its emphasis on things having been done at someone’s request — leaves the door open for misfiring automated detection and their subsequent takedown notices to have been the culprit. If that’s indeed the case, it’s another reminder that for all the convenience and entertainment that YouTube provides, for creators and community members it is also residing in the deepest depths of technocrat hell that is late stage capitalism.