Skibidi Toilet DMCAs Garry's Mod But Legitimacy Remains Unclear

Skibidi Toilet Files DMCA Against Garry’s Mod

Skibidi Toilet’s Takedown Notice

On July 30, Garry Newman, the creator of Garry’s Mod, received a copyright claim from an unknown source demanding the removal of "unauthorized Skibidi Toilet Garry’s Mod games." The sender asserted that "there is absolutely no licensed Steam, Valve, Garry’s Mod content related to Skibidi Toilet."

Initially, reports suggested that Invisible Narratives, the studio behind Skibidi Toilet’s movie and TV franchises, sent the notice. However, a Discord profile purporting to be the Skibidi Toilet creator later denied sending the DMCA notice, as reported by Dexerto.

Garry’s Mod, developed by Newman for Valve’s Half Life 2, enables players to create and participate in custom game modes. The Skibidi Toilet YouTube series, created by Alexey Gerasimov on the channel DaFuq!?Boom!, uses assets from Garry’s Mod and Source Filmmaker to produce content that has become a popular Gen Alpha meme. Its success led to merchandise and a movie and TV series by Invisible Narratives, led by Michael Bay and Adam Goodman.

Counters to Skibidi Toilet's DMCA Claim

Garry Newman disclosed the DMCA claim on the s&box Discord server, expressing his disbelief at the situation. "You know what’s worse than the Nintendo DMCA? Skibidi Toilet guys sent a DMCA too… Can you believe the cheek?" He shared a screenshot of the claim in the Discord chat.

Invisible Narratives' notice claimed that characters like "Titan Cameraman, Titan Speakerman, Titan TV Man, and Skibidi Toilet" are registered copyrights exclusive to their brand, citing DaFuqBoom's YouTube channel as the original source of these characters.

The irony of the situation is palpable, given that Skibidi Toilet was created using Garry’s Mod assets. While Garry’s Mod itself was developed using assets from Half Life 2, Valve has endorsed Newman's work by publishing it as a standalone game in 2006. Valve, as the original owner of Half Life 2, holds a stronger claim over the assets used by DaFuq!?Boom! than Invisible Narratives.

Following Newman's public statement on Discord, DaFuq!?Boom! denied involvement in the DMCA strike against Garry’s Mod. "Is there a way to contact Garry? I did NOT strike Garry’s Mod and I’m trying to understand what else is written in the letter!" the creator posted.

The DMCA notice was reportedly sent by an unknown party "on behalf of copyright holder: Invisible Narratives, LLC." The assets in question were copyrighted by Invisible Narratives in 2023 under "Titan Cameraman and 3 Other Unpublished Works," including Titan Speakerman, Titan TV Man, and Skibidi Toilet.

While DaFuq!?Boom!'s statement remains unconfirmed, this isn't the first time the Skibidi Toilet creator has been involved in copyright disputes.

Skibidi Toilet Copyright Strikes Other YouTubers

Last September, DaFuq!?Boom! intensified previous copyright claims by targeting other YouTube channels, including GameToons, which produces content similar to DaFuq!?Boom!'s.

GameToons attempted to resolve the issue peacefully by reaching out to DaFuq!?Boom! for a possible agreement. However, DaFuq!?Boom! escalated the situation by filing two more copyright strikes against GameToons, which could have led to the deletion of GameToons’ entire channel.

A week later, GameToons reached a settlement with DaFuq!?Boom! and resolved the copyright issue with YouTube’s assistance. The specifics of their agreement remain undisclosed, but the initial claim was widely regarded as contentious.