WWE has picked a fight with content creators.
Content creators across various social media platforms are reporting that the WWE is targeting them and their content forcing them to remove their videos.
WWE is working with StreamEnforcement, a company that provides digital content protection and anti-piracy services for media owners, broadcasters and streaming platforms. Their focus is on detecting and removing unauthorized distribution of copyrighted content online. WWE has been copyright striking creators posting reaction videos.
One such streamer, “Wrespresso“, has released a statement on Reddit detailing what has happened to him and his channels.
“Hi everyone. Sorry to beak kayfabe (especially if you know me) but I’m @Wrespresso on Instagram. A lot of people seem to be interested in this story about the copyright strikes, so I wanted to post about my experience, as someone who was one of the first few people hit,” he stated.
He detailed how he was forced to take down his content by WWE.
“I was hit initially last Friday after posting some reactions for SmackDown. They came in pretty much immediately after the show was done. About 90% of my clips were removed, leaving just a few from the beginning of the show. The report on the strikes allowed me to trace the “reporter” to a company named Stream Enforcement. This is somewhat interesting as it isn’t WWE themselves imposing the strikes, they’re paying an agency to go after content (some believe this is done via bots). There was some belief that they were going after content creators who were more negative about the shows, but that doesn’t seem to be the case as I’ve seem almost everyone get something pulled,” he wrote.
Wrespresso contacted StreamEnforcement to verify their policy.
“I reached out to the agency earlier in the week hoping to get some guidance around what is/isn’t permitted with Backlash this weekend but haven’t heard back yet. These new rules appear to be extremely strict though, one creator I’m friends with received a temporary suspension because they played the audio (no video) in their clip. Just wanted to share my experience/what I know so far, not sure whether people care enough about it but thought it’d be good to get this out there. If I can do anything to help just let me know,” he wrote.
A Reddit member named Grrannt replied: “I got hit on X tonight by Stream Enforcement as well. It’s unfortunate. I hope WWE announces some sort of guidance, but I fear TKO has realized how many fans keep up with the shows via clips…This will drive me to post more AEW content, I actually have Tony Khan liking some of the clips I post, which is the opposite reaction of WWE right now.”
Many fans see the move as confusing as WWE has featured content creators and their feeds in angles on their shows and in posting, streaming their content, the creators are promoting WWE’s events, shows.
There has been no official word from WWE about the policy shift.
