An alleged scammer who tried to extort money from YouTubers by abusing the site's "three strikes" exclusion scheme is about to get his comeuppance. A lawsuit filed by YouTube in a US federal court seeks compensation and an injunction against US-resident Christopher Brady in response to abuse of the DMCA, harassment, extortion, and an apparent 'swatting' incident.
Obtaining multiple unresolved copyright complaints on a YouTube account can prove fatal to those who rely on the platform to make a living. For those obtaining “three strikes”, it can mean the closure of an entire channel and along with it, access to potentially hundreds of otherwise revenue-generating videos. Back in January, it was reported that a YouTuber known as ‘Obbyraidz’, who focuses on Minecraft content, was having this system turned against him. After receiving two bogus strikes against his account, he took to Twitter to complain that he was being extorted by a scammer identifying as ‘Vengeful Flame’, who threatened a third and debilitating strike unless money was paid via PayPal or bitcoin.