KSI vs Logan Paul: Copyright issues hit YouTube fight as reaction videos disappear from site

The KSI vs Logan Paul fight is causing a copyright headache and forcing YouTube videos to disappear.

The event was billed as the biggest event internet history but will also go down as one of the most pirated moments in the world, too. More than a million people are though to have streamed the event on free feeds – far more than watched it legitimately.

But just as problematic are the many vloggers who are posting videos reacting to the fight. Those videos feature video of the actual boxing match – video that is owned by people who are acting aggressively to have it taken down.

It means that a key part of YouTube culture – that of the reaction video – has become a central problem because of a fight between two of its biggest stars. And like the general problem of copyright protection that dogged the event, it looks like it could hold back the rise of YouTube as a cultural force.

Reaction videos tend to include one YouTube users giving their thoughts on another event – be that a video or a news story in the real world. As such, those videos often feature footage from other creators, which are usually excused under fair use provisions but exist in a legally murky situation.

Now many videos from prominent YouTube stars that take on the KSI vs Logan Paul fight have been removed from the site as a result of the copyright fallout. Some are being reposted with the footage removed, and with prominent messages making clear why the change had to happen.

Many prominent YouTubers supported the decision to charge for the fight and to ensure that it was as difficult as possible to get around that charge. But they have also voiced their displeasure about that copyright protection going too far and stopping any kind of videos about the event.

One YouTube star known as McJuggerNuggets posted a video that included shots of the fight, recorded from his TV screen, that were interspersed throughout the video. But that post has now been removed and re-posted, with all of that footage removed and a message in texting making clear that he had been hit by a copyright claim.

Other members of the YouTube community even said they were receiving copyright strikes while trying to make memes or simply use screengrabs from the fight.

“Main event ends in a draw and you can’t even make memes about the fight because they get blocked worldwide,” posted Dolan Dark, who posted a screengrab of a message indicating that his video had been removed.

Searching for Logan Paul vs KSI reaction videos on YouTube now turns up videos that feature no footage of the match at all, or only footage that was shot at the event by creators themselves and doesn't show any action from inside the ring. Even those posted by the stars involved in the fight include no footage from the actual event.

Copyright problems of various kinds have dogged the fight since it was announced.

In advance of the event, copyright protection companies were employed to try and ensure that people were not able to post free and illegal streams online. Both YouTubers also issued pleas to fans to ensure they watched on legitimate streams, rather than relying on the vast number of free ones that proliferated over the internet.

Then during the fight, illegal streams vastly outnumbered legitimate ones. Twitch data showed that more than a million people were using – in contrast with less than 900,000 watching the real YouTube feed.

Prominent YouTubers attacked the Amazon-owned service over what they claimed was a failure to properly police those feeds and protect the content.

There were pirate streams available on other websites, too, meaning that the real number of people watching using illegal streams is no doubt vast.