Recently, XQc faced fire for reuploading YouTube videos from producers as response content, and Ethan called him out in a live debate. When H3 Podcast’s Ethan Klein claimed that xQc’s react videos were stealing from YouTubers, xQc claimed he was assisting them by showcasing their work with his name in order to “make something good happen.”
Ethan disagreed. “You litterally do it to enrich yourself. You’re not creating anything big for anyone. You’re just taking attention and views for yourself and you don’t give a fuck about the consequences,” he said in a podcast from Aug. 7. “It’s not your decision to make that for other people’s property.”
In the podcast, Ethan said he talked to YouTuber Vince Vintage and considered him as victim of his reacts. “He really just steals my shit,” the content creator reportedly said to Ethan. “The problem isn’t the reacting, it’s the reupload of my video with his face on the thumbnail.”
XQc said he would apologize to him and pay him, if he came forward. “I’d be more than happy to give him ten times whatever damage that’s caused,” he answered Ethan in the podcast.
At the end of July, xQc received backlash from YouTubers he used content from. On July 28, content creator Bub Games blamed him for sharing his video live without adding any commentary value.
Then, he posted it as a VOD on YouTube, thus diverting a part of his audience. The YouTuber was followed by others over the following days.
The debate on the H3 Podcast lasted almost two hours and progressively escalated until xQc and Ethan insulted each other personally. It pushed the latter to cut the debate short, without them reaching any agreement on the copyright matter.
Twitch streamer HasanAbi, who often does react content, watched the podcast on his Twitch channel and added his opinion on the issue.
Hasan said he was making sure he didn’t harm content creators when making react content, but also that he couldn’t always know when he did so.
“It ultimately comes down to the reupload to YouTube and whether that individual content creator likes that you reacted to their videos or not,” he said. “They can’t DMCA me because I don’t upload it to my YouTube channel and they won’t make a fuss about it because … they don’t want additional problems.”
He was referring to the example of Vince Vintage, who complained about xQc’s react videos to Ethan, but not to xQc. For Ethan, it’s due to the fact nobody wants to be at war with xQc and make themselves a target to his audience.
Under xQc’s react videos, users can read a mention in the description that allows people who “own copyrighted materials” in the video to contact the editor if they want it to be removed. It’s unclear what’s the process if they do so, however.
Legally, users have the right to issue copyright claims on videos that use their content without their consent. But the process might be long, and while it can be simple to get a video demonetized, it might be trickier to get it removed.
Still, react content has been growing on streaming platforms for a while now, and it shows no signs of slowing down. XQc’s reaction livestreams are highly popular. Clips of his react streams have been among the most-watched in Twitch’s Just Chatting category over the last seven days.