The Philip DeFranco Show - PDS 12.8 "THEY TOOK DOWN 150 OF MY VIDEOS!" Disgusting Copyright Controversy, MoistCr1tikal, Totally Not Mark

Episode Date: December 8, 2021

Start your free trial today: http://www.Squarespace.com/Phil & enter offer code “Phil” to get 10% off your first purchase! More PDS: https://youtu.be/ybvfe3p3t9M TEXT ME! [phone] Get More Phil: https://linktr.ee/PhilipDeFranco -- 00:00 - YouTuber Says He’s Been Hit With 150 Copyright Claims 08:17 - Sponsor 09:06 - ‘Pharma Bro’ Firm Reaches $40 Million Settlement In Price Gouging Case 10:52 - State Legislatures Are Working to Take Over Elections, With Major Implications for 2024 -- ✩ TODAY’S STORIES ✩ YouTuber Says He’s Been Hit With 150 Copyright Claims: https://kotaku.com/youtuber-hit-with-150-copyright-claims-for-reviews-feat-1848178180 ‘Pharma Bro’ Firm Reaches $40 Million Settlement In Price Gouging Case: https://roguerocket.com/2021/12/08/pharma-bro-firm-reaches-40-million-settlement/ State Legislatures Are Working to Take Over Elections, With Major Implications for 2024: https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2022/01/january-6-insurrection-trump-coup-2024-election/620843/ ✩ STORIES NOT IN TODAY’S SHOW ✩ Lil Uzi Vert Invited to College Graduation of Fan He Promised to Pay Tuition For: https://roguerocket.com/2021/12/08/lil-uzi-graduation-tuition/ —————————— Executive Producer: Amanda Morones Edited by: James Girardier, Julie Goldberg, Maxwell Enright Art Department: Brian Borst, William Crespo Writing/Research: Philip DeFranco, Cory Ray, Brian Espinoza, Maddie Crichton, Lili Stenn, Neena Pesqueda Production Team: Zack Taylor, Emma Leid ———————————— #DeFranco #TotallyNotMark #MoistCr1TiKaL ———————————— Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I'm so thankful I'm not a woman. And before you go cancel me on Twitter, what I mean is I've been stress eating this week, overeating, and finally that's resulted in me just, I have so much gas right now. I feel like I might explode or die. It feels like my organs are being crushed. If you told me out of my control,

there's a good chance I could feel like this every single month, I don't think I could do life. I just wouldn't be able to hang. I'd just be walking around like this is some bullshit. I deserve all the things for free. But yeah, that's how my day is going. But me being a baby about this, it's not gonna stop me from giving you

just a top tier Philip DeFranco show. We're ending in stride. So with that said, let's do the damn thing. Welcome back to the Philip DeFranco show. Hit that like button if you want me to punch you in the throat, you weirdo. And let's just jump into it. And y'all, the first thing that we're gonna talk about today,

easily the most requested story from the past 24 hours, it's a legal fair use story, a content creation slash business story, a social media story, and it starts off with a YouTuber by the name of Mark Fitzpatrick, aka TotallyNotMark. Right, so the way this story starts is that Mark recently got hit with copyright claims, but he got hit in a way that I've really never seen before.

In total, overnight, he was hit with with copyright claims, but he got hit in a way that I've really never seen before. In total, overnight, he was hit with 150 copyright claims, all of them coming from Toei Animation. The vast majority of Mark's videos are anime reviews, and Toei is actually a very big anime studio. For example, putting out popular shows like Dragon Ball and One Piece. And those shows end as a result. Mark's videos are extremely important to him, which is why in his latest video that he posted yesterday, he says, Over the last 24 hours, I've sat back in disbelief, shock, and sorrow as my life's work has been unfairly ripped away from me. important to him which is why in his latest video that he posted yesterday he says a total of 150 videos that my audience now can no longer see and that I cannot monetize. To put that into perspective, because myself and my team work on a single video per week, that equates to almost three years worth of work and as a result the main source of my company's income is now gone." With Mark reiterating that these claims don't just hurt him, he has a full-time

staff, he has a family that he provides for. Very important to this story is that Mark stresses his problem isn't just with Toei Animation, right? Saying, you know, it's not just like they're the big bad, instead saying that his situation shoots right to the heart of the problem with YouTube's content ID system. I take my job very seriously. Because of this, I ensure that both myself and my employees adhere strictly to the fair dealings

and fair use policies as outlined by YouTube and within my own country and other countries. I am shocked and appalled that I, someone that tirelessly dedicates himself to a fair use practice, has to accept and bend the knee as my life's work gets obliterated before me by a massive company that clearly has no regard or respect for the rules outlined by YouTube themselves. Though there, it's been pointed out that Japan's copyright law does actually lack a fair use provision, and notably by law, authors do have the quote,

"'Right to preserve the integrity of their work and its title against any distortion, mutilation, or other modification against their will.'" In fact, the law is so strong there right now that there's actually proposed legislation in the country to address an issue that's keeping a lot of old games from getting re-released. It's likely on a legal level,

one of the big questions here is which country's copyright laws apply to Mark's case. With that aside, as Mark notes, writing reviews isn't some unique venture. Noting that it exists in pretty much every format that you could imagine, radio, podcast, TV, the list goes on. But also adding there that those other mediums

don't have to, quote, contend with the same insane treatments those that produce on YouTube do. And on top of all that, saying that a video uploaded by Stephen Colbert's late night show last week has more footage from Toei than some of his own videos that got claimed did,

is a kind of pointing to a double standard for big productions versus smaller or more homegrown creators. In one example, even noting that some of his own videos that got claimed did. Or is it kind of pointing to a double standard for big productions versus smaller or more homegrown creators? In one example, even noting that nine of his videos were even taken down featuring no actual animation from Toei. Instead saying that all the drawings in those videos came from his own company and adding,

And so effectively, if Dragon Ball wasn't the title, it was removed. And from there, Mark then details how he believes that YouTube's system is fundamentally broken. Saying that he's disputed copyright claims in the past, but the dispute goes directly to the claimant, who then gets to decide in 30 days whether or not to revoke their claim. That's right. The company that put the claim there in the first place, with no incentive to be honest or thorough in this instance, gets to decide the

legitimacy of my dispute. If that dispute then gets denied, which Mark says is likely, he can then submit a counterclaim, but also noting there that this goes back to the claimant yet again, with it having another 30 days to respond. And if Toei were to deny the counterclaim as well, Mark says that the third step in the appeals process would allow him and the claimant to go directly to court. From there, the claimant has two weeks to respond, but as Mark notes, here's the kicker, they never respond. And by default, my video gets reinstated, which means they claimed my video, prevented me from taking that revenue, killed its momentum, and put me under a tremendous amount of stress for effectively nothing. With Maher claiming that this three month process has to be done for each and every

claim he wants to dispute. In this case, there would be 150 disputes with him also claiming that YouTube doesn't allow you to file multiple claims at once. And if true, that means that appealing every video here would potentially take nearly 40 years. And despite knowing that all of these videos will eventually be reinstated, I need to follow this bureaucratic dance well into my late 60s. And look, we're working on this. We reached out to YouTube because I don't know. I've never and I don't know anyone who's ever been hit with 150 content ID blocks all at once.

By the way, you're talking about a massive amount of work to have to defend yourself from every single one of these claims. And regarding YouTube's system, the day before Mark posted this video, the platform ironically released its first ever copyright transparency report, saying there that 99% of the content claims in the first half of 2021 went through its automated system, adding the most go undisputed and that 60% of all disputed claims usually fall in favor of the uploader. But get this, you know what really kind of twisted the knife for Mark? Toei actually approached me themselves earlier this year to help them promote a series of concerts they were looking to hold across the Americas.

Which I think highlights a fundamental and horrid hypocrisy in this circumstance. In one breath Toei is happy to take down 150 of my videos for quite literally no reason and in the next breath they see me as a great mechanism or vessel for promoting their works. Which is it? Either YouTube creators serve as a vessel for promoting their works. Which is it? Either YouTube creators serve as a vessel for promotion or we don't, but it can't be both. That said, we don't know how Toei Animations is broken down. It's possible that you have different teams handling two different events. Left hand not talking to the right hand.

Right hand, left hand, my brain works. But regardless of what the breakdown of the company looks like, I see and I hear that and I go, What the fuck? You have this company, Toei Animations, and apparently part of the company is like still 20 years back going like, people are stealing our content. Meanwhile, you seemingly have other people at the company that realize the value of creators like Mark

and so many others. Like once again, this is not just a singular thing specifically about anime. But with all of that said, and despite everything that's happened, you have Mark saying that he refuses to allow these claims to be the reason that he's pushed out of YouTube and saying that he has a firm line in the sand.

Adding that until he gets his videos back, he's done uploading any video that covers anything from Toei and also calling for a boycott on Toei's upcoming Dragon Ball film. I cannot in good conscience support a company that actively disrespects, despises, and destroys its own community like this. Toei Animation, you do not have my support and if what I've said here today has resonated with any of you at all watching, I encourage both creators and viewers alike to join me in solidarity and not support this film. And here's the final kind of unfortunate thing with this story. Mark goes on to give

YouTube what he calls actionable advice about modifying their YouTube ID system, but I don't believe that YouTube's actually going to do anything. I mean, for example, the only kind of response that we've seen from them so far is Team YouTube replying to him on Twitter saying, Jumping in here, we'll be looking into that and circle back as soon as we have an update. Also, please continue to dispute claims if you believe they were made in error. And so the unfortunate thing is I think the only way this gets fixed is if public pressure and awareness of the situation gets so big that Toei has to back down. In the past day, we've actually seen several massive creators backing Mark, including the likes of

Moist Critical, who said in his own video, I think people really need to focus on the fact that it is Toei Animations that have chose to abuse this and attack content creators. No matter how within their rights they are to critique and review anime and even show images and clips from their shows, they don't care because they will drown out that with legal notices in their legal department.

Toei Animations has a lot of money and they can bully people around with it, and they do. Venezuelan YouTuber Droz wrote Zonk, also telling Toei on Twitter, "'Do you people know how much money you will lose "'if you reinstated totally not Mark videos? "'Zero. "'You did something horrible to a good content creator

"'who has done nothing but publicize your stuff. "'Maybe it's time to act like your very own heroes.'" And I personally, right, this is Philip DeFranco speaking, separate from the content and coverage of this piece, 100% agree with boycotting Toei Animation. It sucks because I like a lot of their work, but I can't in good conscience support a bully. And in my eyes, that's exactly what this is.

This is an ignorant or bully move. But from that, let's take a second to pay some bills and thank the fantastic sponsor of today's show, Squarespace. I know that over the past year or so, a lot of you have found your passion projects and what truly makes you happy. Whether that means finally getting your independent business

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Then let's definitely talk about some huge drug news, specifically the drug company Vera Pharmaceuticals, which was notably previously owned by Martin Shkreli, AKA Pharma Bro under the name Turing Pharmaceuticals. They're in the news right now because Vera and its parent company have now agreed to a $40 million settlement to resolve price gouging claims from the Federal Trade Commission, multiple states,

and a related class action suit. Right, for those that don't remember, the two companies, Shkreli and his associate, Kevin Milady, were accused of hiking up the price of the life-saving medication, Daraprim, by around 4,000%, with an FTC complaint saying that they jacked up the price after obtaining exclusive rights to it, and before concocting, quote,

"'an elaborate web of restrictions to illegally block competitors from producing a cheaper option.'" So you have the FTC saying that the $40 million will serve as relief for the victims here and adding that the companies are required to make Daraprim available to any potential generic competitor at list price and to provide prior notification

of any planned pharmaceutical transaction valued at $25 million or more. And on top of that, the deal bans Militi who continues to deny wrongdoing from working with any pharmaceutical company for seven years. Also in a statement about the agreement, FTC chair, Lena Kahn wrote, while litigation against Shkreli continues,

the order shuts down the illegal enterprise run by his companies and bans his associate from the industry. This strong relief sets a new standard and puts corporate leaders on notice that they will face severe consequences for ripping off the public by wantonly monopolizing markets.

And as far as Shkreli, you know, he's in prison right now, but his problems aren't over. Right currently, he's serving a seven year prison sentence for an unrelated securities fraud conviction over hedge funds that he operated before launching into the pharmaceutical industry. As the FTC chair said, it's not over for Shkreli. Right now it is scheduled for December 14th.

He is going to be on trial. It's an antitrust trial for allegedly directing the price gouging operation. And while obviously Shkreli, like everyone else in this country, deserves a fair trial, there is part of me that wishes that his lawyers went, "'Hey, I know that we said we were gonna defend you, but our price just went up 4,000%.

Sorry, it's the market.'" You understand, you get it. And then finally, the last thing that we're gonna talk about today is something that I promised that I would cover this week. And I just ask you two things. One, please watch this piece in full. I think it's important to consume the entire thing

rather than sounding off two minutes into it. And two, if you end up being as concerned and kind of horrified at what may be in our future, please share the message. It genuinely feels like I'm watching a slow motion train crash and the people that I thought would be covering it are covering stupid fucking stories about the vice president wearing wired headphones. But that said, here we go. So like I mentioned yesterday, very briefly, there is an incredibly alarming trend that we're seeing in state legislatures that poses a very serious threat to democracy,

and I wanna break it down. So at the very top level, this centers around who has the authority over elections, and specifically, efforts by Republican state legislators to take the power away from election officials. Right among a long list of things, according to a report from a collective of election-focused nonprofits published back in April,

not even halfway through the 2021 legislative session, legislators in 36 states had filed 148 bills that would allow them to, quote, muscle their way into election administration as they attempt to dislodge or unsettle the executive branch and or local election officials who traditionally have run our voting systems. With a report going on to say that these efforts

would give legislatures the power to disrupt election administration and adding that if enacted, these changes could make elections unworkable, render results far more difficult to finalize, and in the worst case scenario, allow state legislatures to substitute their preferred candidates for those chosen by the voters.

For example, just by the time that this report was published back in April, legislators in at least 16 states had either proposed or passed measures that would remove certain election administration powers from the purview of the governor and other executive officers and place them under the control of the legislature. And as the authors note, that would significantly certain election administration powers from the purview of the governor and other executive officers and place them

under the control of the legislature. And as the authors know, that would significantly alter the balance of power, especially because the state legislators have typically had limited roles in election administration. Now there are a number of ways that legislators have proposed stripping power away from the executive and election officials, but one of the main ones

centers around state and local election boards. They control elections in many states and are usually appointed by the governor, secretary of state, or local governing bodies such as County Executive for example in Georgia the Secretary of State used to chair the state election board But under the state's new incredibly restrictive and heavily criticized election law The legislature is now given the power to choose the board chair effectively giving a control of the board and that board that they've essentially been Given control of is also now given unprecedented abilities to intervene in local election administration

As Barton Gelman of the Atlantic notes the the new law also gives the state board the power to overrule and take control of voting tallies in any jurisdiction, for example, a heavily black and democratic one like Fulton County. And on top of all that, noting that the state board has also now been given the power to replace local election administrators with a handpicked substitute who will have the final say

on disqualifying voters and declaring ballots null and void. So all of that by itself, already incredibly alarming, but as the April report notes, perhaps the most worrying of the election interference bills are those that would create the serious prospect of an election crisis by giving state legislatures the opportunity to overturn election results they don't like.

Noting there that the bills introduced in Arizona, Missouri, and Nevada would create opportunities for the legislatures in those states to hijack the process for certifying election results and choose a winner that does not correspond with the popular vote. Right, so for some quick context here, the party for whichever candidate wins the popular vote

in a state gets to designate electors who will then go to the electoral college and vote for the person who won their state. And while state legislatures do technically have the power to decide the rules for how electors are chosen, since the 19th century, every state has certified electors who support the popular vote winner. But if a Republican legislature can overrule

the popular vote cast for a Democratic president, they can send Republican electors to the college to vote for the GOP candidate instead. And if all of that sounds vaguely familiar to you, it's because it was the main tactic that Trump's team employed after the election, trying to convince Republican legislators in states of Biden won to take control of the results

and send Trump electors to the college instead. And while some election officials did their damnedest to try and make this a reality, ultimately no states took this route. But y'all, based off of everything that we've already talked about and something very concerning that we're gonna touch on in a second,

essentially 2020 was a trial run, a very messy, shibbly put together in the moment, embarrassing failure, but things are different now. Among other things, as the April report notes, there are a number of bills currently being debated in states that represent a transparent response to the failed effort by some legislators in key swing states to change the result

of the 2020 election, with arguably the most worrisome of these proposals being one in Arizona, which would quote, "'Allow the legislature to override the popular vote for any reason, by allowing it at any time before the presidential inauguration to revoke the secretary of state's issuance or certification of a presidential elector's certificate

of election.'" In other words, the bill would literally just let the state legislature decide to overrule the popular vote, decertify the election, and choose their own electors. And if you're wondering, Phil, how the hell is any of that constitutional? As Ed Kilgore of The Intelligencer explains,

the US Supreme Court has never actually made a ruling regarding the radical constitutional theory that this proposal relies on, that the Constitution gives state legislatures absolute sovereignty in regulating federal elections. And as Gelman notes, four justices have already signaled support for this doctrine, and Amy Coney Barrett,

Trump's latest appointee, would become the decisive vote, and she has not spoken on this issue yet. With, Trump's latest appointee, would become the decisive vote and she has not spoken on this issue yet. With him adding that the Supreme Court, friendly to the doctrine, would have a range of remedies available to it, including throwing out the vote altogether and allowing the state legislature

to appoint electors of its choosing. And so as a result, you have Gelman, Kilgour, and many more arguing that these efforts by state legislatures to shift election administration to their hands is just a further continuation of Trump's election coup. These measures are even more concerning when paired with the widespread voting restrictions

that have been proposed in states following the election, including some that impose criminal or other penalties for election decisions. With Goeman saying that those laws by design make it harder for Democrats to vote and adding that as a result, the midterms marked by gerrymandering will more than likely tighten the GOP's grip on the legislatures and swing states. Also noting that three of the 36 states

will choose new governors in the midterms or battlegrounds where Democratic governors, quote, until now have thwarted attempts by Republican legislatures to cancel Biden's victory and rewrite election rules. But here is the biggest problem of all, and thank you for getting to this point. The issue isn't, oh no, we're gonna have Republicans in positions of power.

One of the biggest issues is that Republican challengers in these states that we're talking about have pledged allegiance to the big lie, and the contests look very, very competitive. As Gilman explained, since the election, Trump has been undermining Republicans who refuse to help him overturn the election and endorsing people who are challenging them

from the right and campaigning on the big lie. For example, regarding some of the higher positions just this week, Trump endorsed former Georgia Senator David Perdue, who has widely spread election fraud claims. And that because he's challenging Governor Brian Kemp, who of course famously refused Trump's demands to convene a special legislative session to overturn the election.

Among others that Trump endorsed, you have a former Fox 10 news anchor by the name of Carrie Lake, with Trump hoping that she'll succeed Arizona Governor Doug Ducey, who also refused to overturn the results in the election. Also saying that she will fight to restore election integrity, both past and future.

With future there being the operative word. And Lake has said that she would not have certified Biden's victory in Arizona, and even promises to revoke it somehow if she wins. But I don't want you to leave this video thinking this is just something that could, maybe, sort of happen if these governors or other state officials are elected. Because, as should be clear from all the bills and state houses that we just talked about, there are already people in the legislatures working to subvert the will of the people

in key battleground states that are also getting support from Trump. Last month, he backed Michigan State Representative Matt Maddox's campaign to be the next state house GOP leader. And again, that's because Maddox has promoted Trump's claims that the election was stolen. None of this is normal. This isn't a difference of opinion, political or otherwise. This is, I support democracy or I don't.

The lies, and especially the big lie, which he was even saying before the election happened, they have been successful with his base. According to a recent poll, 64% of Republican-le leaning voters said they did not believe that Biden won enough votes legitimately to win the presidency. So not only is the big lie eroding the ability

for democracy to exist in this country moving forward, it's actually gotten to the point where it's emboldened people to say, yeah, I don't give a fuck about the real will of the people because Trump has convinced so many of his people that they were robbed of their presidents. So all bets are off, anything's on the table because we have to stop them from cheating.

Despite failure after failure, whether it be in court or just general reality to prove that there was anything that happened. Let me be absolutely clear, there has been no evidence of widespread fraud in the 2020 elections. Hell, I mean, just looking at Georgia specifically, they counted the vote three times, once even by hand. And it's important to be aware of this

because if these people win, and especially those running for governor, that could seriously impact the ability of state legislatures to pass bills that would give them election control and pave the way for them to undermine the popular vote. Right, as Kilgore explained, "'Any resistance in state legislative ranks to a coup

"'might well be silenced in advance "'if Trump's 2022 efforts to purge 2020 quote, "'traitors and place more reliable MAGAfolk "'in key positions succeed.'" With Gelman also echoing that saying the Supreme Court may be ready to give those legislatures near absolute control over the choice of presidential electors and if Republicans take back the House and Senate as oddmakers seem to believe that they will the GOP will firmly be in charge of counting the electoral votes with him concluding that piece Donald Trump came closer than anyone thought he could to toppling a free election a year ago

He is preparing in plain view to do it again and his position is growing stronger. Against Biden or a Democratic nominee, Donald Trump may be capable of winning a fair election in 2024. He does not intend to take that chance. But ultimately that is where that story ends, today's show ends.

Of course, whether it be this last story, the first one, anything in between, I'd love to know your thoughts in those comments down below. But of course, as always, my name's Philip DeFranco. You've just been filled in. I love yo faces and I'll see you tomorrow. The last show, or at least the last scheduled show of the year.