Hello, everyone!
We’ve been receiving reports from people who are confused about copyright law, and how it relates to r/LetsNotMeet and the various podcasts/YouTube narrators who are using content from this subreddit.
Let us be perfectly clear: This subreddit is not affiliated with any podcast or YouTube narrator, and we do not endorse any of them in any way. We do not condone people profiting off of our community and your experiences. Further, we believe that these podcasts and YouTube narrators are detrimental to the community, and have led to the rise in fake stories being submitted to the subreddit over the past several years.
There have been many instances of people taking content from this subreddit over the years, primarily as part of YouTube narrations, and we’ve heard a large number of complaints regarding this. We’re entirely unable to stop it, but you— as in, submitters to the subreddit– can.
In the United States, which is the relevant jurisdiction for YouTube, podcasting platforms, and Reddit, copyright is automatically granted as soon as you create it. That means that you hold the copyright to anything you post on r/LetsNotMeet, and if you see your experience being used to make somebody else money (or just in a way that you don’t want), you can file a DMCA takedown request for that other work.
To file a DMCA complaint on YouTube: https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/2807622?hl=en
To file a DMCA complaint on Patreon: https://support.patreon.com/hc/en-us/articles/208377833-How-do-I-send-a-DMCA-takedown-notice-
If you are a narrator from YouTube or elsewhere, we would like to remind you that U.S. Copyright Law requires that you obtain individual permission from every person whose works you feature. Should you fail to do so, you are likely to receive DMCA takedowns of your content, which could result in the suspension of your account. Per rule 2 in our sidebar, if you want to reach out for permission please do so in private message. Do not leave comments on stories requesting permission or advertising your channel. Promotion of any YouTube channels or podcasts is a bannable offense.
If you have any questions about copyright, stories being stolen, or narrators/content creators, please feel free to ask them here. If you find that a submission has likely been stolen, please let us know (and the wonderful people over at r/SleeplessWatchdogs will likely also be interested– they do fantastic work at trying to track YouTube narrators and podcasters who are stealing content without first receiving permission from the original creator).