GitHub removes 18 projects related to YouTube download library youtube-dl after RIAA sent a letter saying it enabled infringement

Main target of the takedown was the youtube-dl project, a Python library that had amassed more than 72k stars on GitHub and was used in many YouTube video ripping tools and services.

ZDNet 2020-10-25 Catalin Cimpanu

Context & Ripple Effects

The RIAA's campaign against stream-ripping has escalated from sites to source code. After suing YouTube-MP3 in 2016, the labels saw the site settle with the RIAA and shut down indefinitely in 2017, then watched a US court dismiss their suit against foreign ripping sites on jurisdictional grounds in 2019.

With site-level enforcement hitting that wall, the letter to GitHub targets the tooling layer instead: youtube-dl, a Python library with more than 72k stars, was removed along with 18 related projects, making a code host the new chokepoint for anti-piracy pressure.

First-order effects

youtube-dl and the 17 projects built around or depending on it are off GitHub immediately, breaking the hosting for many downstream YouTube ripping tools and services.

Second-order effects

GitHub is forced to re-examine how mechanically it processes DMCA letters against open-source code, since the removal swept up widely used infrastructure rather than a single infringing service.

Third-order effects

If rights-holder groups keep shifting enforcement upstream to platforms like GitHub, code hosting itself becomes a contested battleground — which is why [[a:960049|GitHub later reinstated youtube-dl, raised its bar for takedown requests, and created a $1M legal defense fund for developers]].

The trend: Copyright enforcement is moving from consumer-facing ripping sites to the developer platforms and open-source libraries underneath them, with hosts' own review policies becoming the deciding factor.

Discussion

@xor Parker Higgins on x
Holy cow, the RIAA has gotten youtube-dl taken off Github. DMCA notice: https://github.com/...
@eff @eff on x
Youtube-dl is a legitimate tool with a world of a lawful uses. Demanding its removal from Github is a disappointing and counterproductive move by the RIAA. https://github.com/...
@scriptjunkie1 Scriptjunkie on x
youtube-dl was taken down by RIAA via DMCA. You know, the one that was archived here: https://web.archive.org/... and is still live here: https://pypi.org/... with hash e0ece0221b389c8054cb86661d8f9fb7408d8f4 dbc17cc413715dd61ad825133 just in case you wanted to check it for malwa…
@mmasnick Mike Masnick on x
I am perplexed as to how the RIAA has any legitimate claim here. https://twitter.com/...
@tha_rami Rami Ismail on x
GitHub, welcome home develo-no not that the corporations don't want that https://twitter.com/...
@orcastraw Kaitlyn Molinas on x
The RIAA will stop at no cost, in one generation or the next, to ensure that their restrictive idea of music rights is enforced to the highest degree, no matter how much technology they must stifle to make it possible https://twitter.com/...
@film_girl Christina Warren on x
On the one hand, having those examples in the test suite was sloppy. On the other hand, my $1000 matched EFF donation goes into effect next Friday so that's good. Also, an important reminder than git is decentralized by design and this is all a game of whack-a-mole. https://twitt…
@dylanreeve Dylan Reeve on x
The strongest argument seems to be the fact that examples of usage in the documentation included copyright protected songs from major recording artists. Time to redo all the examples with Big Buck Bunny videos or something. https://twitter.com/...
@aral Aral Balkan on x
Another reason to run your own source code repositories if you can using Gitea or GitLab and only use GitHub as a mirror for reach. e.g., Our canonical self-hosted repositories at Small Technology Foundation: https://source.small-tech.org/ Our GitHub mirror: https://github.com/..…
@brokep Peter Sunde Kolmisoppi on x
As long as guns are allowed to be sold for lawful uses, all other tools should by extension not even be discussed as illegal. https://twitter.com/...
@nedwilliamson Nedwill on x
This is a huge misstep. I've been using youtube-dl for years to play media using my local player when I've had issues playing the content online. This includes when I was a student to fetch lectures for watching without great internet connectivity. https://twitter.com/...
@corbindavenport Corbin Davenport on x
Youtube-DL is no longer available on GitHub because @RIAA filed a takedown request. Fuck the music industry. https://www.github.com/...
@anjalii_shrivas Anjali on x
You can still download youtube-dl using PyPi so go do that now if you haven't yet https://web.archive.org/... https://twitter.com/...
@job4_2 @job4_2 on x
The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) has filed a DMCA with Github to have youtube-dl deleted. It is an excellent utility that can be used for archiving YouTube and many other platforms. The chilling effect would be devastating. https://github.com/...
@vandrewattycpa Jeff Vandroux on x
Get your privately hosted git servers ready, fellow wrongthinkers https://twitter.com/...
@xor Parker Higgins on x
I think it's worth understanding the difference between why a platform like Github would take things down under a “normal” DMCA takedown notice and under the RIAA letter over youtube-dl.
@lcrwnews @lcrwnews on x
Fuck this shit youtube-dl is one of my favorite archiving tools out there https://twitter.com/...
@dangillmor Dan Gillmor on x
Important to remember that the responsibility for the decision to comply rests with Microsoft, which owns Github. Microsoft has been an enthusiastic member of the Copyright Cartel for a long, long time. https://twitter.com/...
@mind_booster Marcos Marado on x
So, besides the obvious “RIAA is doing stupid stuff again”, and the less obvious “github opted for the easy way out, gave the giant what he wanted, screw the little guy”... They didn't just take down youtube-dl, but every of its forks. Without notice, silently, I lost mine. https…
@kcimc Kyle McDonald on x
in case you missed it, GitHub has capitulated to a ridiculous request from the RIAA to remove the youtube-dl source, presumably leading to a whack-a-mole as they migrate? curious to see how pypi, ubuntu, homebrew all respond. https://twitter.com/...
@campuscodi Catalin Cimpanu on x
RIAA blitz takes down 18 GitHub projects used for downloading YouTube videos Main target of the takedown was the youtube-dl project, a Python library that had amassed 72k stars on GitHub and was used in many YouTube video ripping tools and services. https://www.zdnet.com/... http…
@mattlech Matt Lech on x
I'm so fucking sick of the DMCA https://twitter.com/...
@vitalikbuterin Vitalik.Eth on x
Never thought I'd hear that name again! Feels like it's been over 10 years since one of the major subplots of the internet was them suing people for hundreds of thousands of dollars for up/down-loading a few songs (eg. https://www.wired.com/...) https://twitter.com/...
@thomasfuchs @thomasfuchs on x
Do I know anyone at @Github? This is bullshit. We've used youtube-dl before for a project archiving activist videos about BLM/police brutality. What's next? Banning cURL? https://twitter.com/...
@supersat Karl on x
The RIAA has been spinning up their DMCA takedown abuse machine again, targeting: 1) Videos on Twitter with fleeting/fair use instances of music in the background 2) Twitch VODs 3) GitHub projects, but AFAICT you can't do a § 512 takedown notice for an alleged § 1201 violation
@lrvick Lance R. Vick on x
The RIAA just got GitHub to ban open source YouTube downloaders. They don't want anyone to share this code: mplayer $(echo -s " https://youtube.com/... $youtube_url | sed -n “/watch_fullscreen/s;.＊$video_ id.\+$&title.＊;\1;p")& fmt=22") Woops. https://github.com/...
@raistolo Stefano Zanero on x
Completely unsurprised that the RIAA would make silly requests like this. https://twitter.com/...
@brokep Peter Sunde Kolmisoppi on x
Who owns github if not Microsoft, one of the most copyright loving companies in the world. https://twitter.com/...
@robinsloan Robin Sloan on x
I'm absolutely gutted by the takedown of youtube-dl. It's one of the wonders of the internet; I use it many times every week. More than a bundle of code, it was (is!!) a social process, constantly updated in response to code changes at YouTube & elsewhere https://twitter.com/...
@diakayyali @diakayyali on x
Youtube-dl is one of the best ways for people to archive human rights documentation offline. This is a terrible move. https://twitter.com/...
@jason_a_w Jason Wilson on x
The RIAA are effectively alleging that a software tool that many of us use daily is in itself illegal. Microsoft should have stood up to them. https://twitter.com/...
@evan_greer Evan Greer on x
Independent musician who made a living off my music for a decade here to point out that this does not in any way benefit the vast majority of musicians and artists, it's just a power play by giant corporations who have exploited our creativity for decades https://twitter.com/...
@seldo Laurie Voss on x
Awww, the RIAA is back, providing their public service of telling people about ways to pirate content they would otherwise never have heard of. The 90s are back! https://www.zdnet.com/...
@mrkoot Matthijs R. Koot on x
The repo of YouTube-dl must be reinstated. Tools like these are *essential* in legit contexts that involve OSINT, including: - journalism - academic research - law enforcement - private investigations The @RIAA's move shows a lack of understanding of tech & respect for others. ht…
@hameggsnsam GreenEggsnHam on x
This is insane. Now the increasingly irrelevant music industry is removing code from the internet that I use to download videos for fair use purposes in my educational videos. This whole system is so incredibly broken. https://www.zdnet.com/...
@beirutspring Mustapha Hamoui on x
I use YouTube-dl for so many things, from sharing videos from twitter and Reddit to WhatsApp to converting YouTube talks to audio (although luckily, now @CastroPodcasts can do that) . I Can't believe this happened. https://twitter.com/...

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