🎥 Fair use? More like “pay us or perish,” says ANI.
🟣 At a Glance
A quiet war has broken out in India’s media space. On one side: ANI, the country’s largest video wire agency, allegedly slapping YouTubers and journalists with copyright claims like Holi colors. On the other: a humble, old-school hero—PTI (Press Trust of India)—offering “free use” news content as a Gandhian slap to this corporate nonsense.
Welcome to the great Indian copyright gundagardi of 2025.
🔥 The Scam: ANI’s Copyright Racket
If you’ve made even a mildly political video on YouTube lately, there’s a good chance ANI has tried to demonetize your video, threaten legal action, or demand a “license fee” that could fund your entire college tuition.
Here’s how the racket works:
- 🎬 You upload a 6-second clip of Modi at a rally to explain voter turnout.
- 🤖 ANI’s bots auto-detect their watermark.
- 📩 You get a copyright strike, demonetization, or video removal.
- ☎️ Then, the “resolution team” (read: legal extortion squad) emails you with a sweet deal:
Pay ₹1.5 lakh to ₹5 lakh and we’ll remove the strike + whitelist your channel. - 🧾 No real negotiation. No fair use discussion. Just Paytm karo, warna channel gaya.
Yes, this is real. And hundreds of independent journalists, election vloggers, and teachers covering Civics 101 have experienced it.
🧠 But Isn’t News Footage Fair Use?
It should be. In any sane democracy, it is.
- News footage, when used for:
- Commentary
- Critique
- Education
- Reporting
…is globally protected under fair use or fair dealing clauses.
BUT — India’s copyright laws are a foggy mess. And since ANI owns exclusive broadcast rights to much
