The new Borderlands movie is currently available on YouTube – and apparently nobody is doing anything about it

Platforms like YouTube or Twitch are usually not very joking when it comes to copyright. Anyone who shows an excerpt from a film or series that is too long – or even entire works – quickly risks being blocked. It is therefore all the more strange that the current Borderlands film has been available in its entirety on YouTube for over 24 hours now.

What exactly can you see on YouTube? On September 2, 2024, a user published the latest Borderlands movie on YouTube. This is not a recording secretly made in the cinema, but actually the complete film in the original English language and in full HD.

The video has been online for over 24 hours now and has received almost 1.4 million views during this time. What is strange is that apparently no one has yet taken action against the upload of the film.

We have deliberately decided not to provide the link to the film. However, you can watch the official trailer here:

Uploading the film clearly violates YouTube’s rules

Why is this so unusual? YouTube actually has very clear rules when it comes to copyright. Under “Rules and Guidelines” on YouTube it says:

The creator should only upload videos that they have created themselves or for which they have all the necessary rights to use. This means: Without explicit permission, you should not upload videos that you did not create yourself and you should not use material in the videos whose copyright belongs to someone else – for example, music tracks, excerpts from copyrighted programs or videos created by other users.

via YouTube

There is an exception in the USA for so-called “fair use”, which allows reporting on, analyzing or criticizing copyrighted works.

There are several factors that go into determining whether the use of such material constitutes fair use, but uploading it in its entirety to YouTube without any additional commentary is almost certainly not one of them.

According to the description, the channel on which the film was released is located in the USA and should therefore be subject to local law.

Hateful comments shoot against the film under the video

Why is nothing being done about it? Only those responsible can answer that. MeinMMO has already made a request for a statement. We will add it here as soon as we have an answer.

However, there are already some – rather malicious – speculations on YouTube as to why no one seems to be taking action against the video: the distributors are simply happy that someone is actually seeing their film this way. This is what the comments under the film say:

• “They uploaded the whole movie to YouTube!” Quick, take it down- Lionsgate: Wait… They’re watching it. They’re watching it!”
• “It’s so bad that Hollywood didn’t even bother to get it copyrighted.”
• “It used to be that you could tell a bad movie was because it was released straight to video. Now they go straight to YouTube.”
• “Plot twist, the studio PAID to upload this.”

On Twitch, the streamer also had a fairly relaxed approach to copyright for a while. During the Corona pandemic, content creators showed their viewers entire episodes of series or even films. Big streamers are currently watching series on Twitch, but a warning about catastrophic consequences