After the strikes on channels appeared in mid-April, some YouTubers noticed that the strikes were actually sent through a middle man on behalf of Invisible Narratives. The copyright notices shown to affected creators listed “[email protected]” as the contact, leading creators to believe the company MarkScan was acting on behalf of Invisible Narratives.
MarkScan has a notably poor reputation among various online creators who have accused the company of sending fraudulent or abusive copyright strikes. This reputation predates the situation with Invisible Narratives. Some online reviewers have alleged that the company pressures or extorts creators, though these claims remain unverified.
MarkScan Enforcement is an India-based anti-piracy and intellectual property protection company. Creators in several online communities have associated MarkScan with mass video takedowns. Creators have reported losing entire YouTube channels overnight after receiving multiple concurrent strikes from MarkScan.
MarkScan’s public Trustpilot rating is extremely low, with a rating of 1.4 stars – many negative reviews from users claiming they were affected by takedowns.
One reviewer even claims that clients can hire the company to target people they don’t like. Another reviewer alleges that Markscan blackmails and extorts money from creators.
Many affected YouTubers believe that the reason Inviz might have hired an outside company to strike channels is to protect the main Skibidi channel from being punished. Many of the strikes were sent on videos that used Skibidi footage under fair use laws, including for news, analysis and commentary.
If those uses were legally protected as fair use, creators argue that the strikes would be improper or abusive. YouTube policies can penalize abusive or improper takedown behavior, which led some creators to speculate that using an outside enforcement company could reduce direct risk to the main Skibidi channel. Some YouTubers believe Inviz may have used an outside company to distance the main Skibidi channel from enforcement risk, though this remains unconfirmed by Inviz.
Inviz Involvement
As of this article, Inviz does not appear to have publicly addressed whether MarkScan acted on its behalf. Despite multiple people asking them about it, they have not responded to any questions about the strikes on channels.
On the 10th day of #LetBoomSpeak, Iron Cameraman created a video on the topic. He discusses his experience and theories on the MarkScan situation starting at the 3:50 mark.