Popular Indian news agency Asian News International (ANI) has come under fire from digital creators and news aggregators for allegedly misusing YouTube’s copyright reporting tools to shut down independent content producers.
According to multiple reports, ANI has been targeting YouTubers who use even brief clips or visuals from its news footage — a practice common under the doctrine of fair use. Creators claim they are being forced to take down their content or pay hefty settlement amounts, ranging from tens of thousands to lakhs of rupees, to avoid legal troubles or permanent strikes on their channels.
This strategy reportedly takes advantage of YouTube India’s lax copyright enforcement system, where automated takedowns can disable a video or channel even before the accused party has a chance to respond.
While ANI defends its actions as protecting its intellectual property, critics argue that it is weaponizing copyright law to suppress smaller voices in the media ecosystem. In many cases, affected channels say they only used short clips for commentary, news analysis, or educational purposes — all of which may qualify as fair use under Indian and global standards.
The incident has sparked a growing debate around digital content rights, creator freedom, and the imbalance of power between large media houses and independent creators on platforms like YouTube.
Content creators and digital rights activists are now urging YouTube India to review its copyright policies and offer more transparent processes to resolve such disputes — before more small channels are forced offline.
