In its latest transparency report released, GitHub revealed that during 2024 it received 2,000 valid takedown requests under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), resulting in the removal of 31,151 projects. These repositories included everything from copied code to pirated applications, IPTV lists, and numerous Nintendo Switch emulators. Additionally, requests related to circumvention of technological measures saw a slight increase, although GitHub notes that these continue to be rigorously reviewed.
Home to hundreds of millions of code repositories, GitHub takes pride in being the largest and most advanced development platform in the world. Like other platforms that host user-generated content, this vast library of code occasionally faces issues related to copyright infringement.
Issues with Pirated Content
One challenge GitHub faces is a constant stream of fraudulent advertisements promising free access to the latest movies, which actually seek to deceive users into providing their credit card details or other personal information. GitHub typically detects this type of spam before rights holders notice it, as no DMCA request has mentioned these cases to date. Instead, rights holders are more focused on developers whose projects are flagged for copied code or identified as pirated tools.
Over the years, some high-profile takedowns have made headlines, including the removal of YouTube-DL by the RIAA, which was later reversed. Other rights holders have had more success; for example, Nintendo was particularly active, removing hundreds of repositories and forks, including the Rhythm Heaven remix tool and Switch emulators like Suyu, Nuzu, Uzuy, Torzu, and Sudachi. Notably, numerous rights holders also removed various IPTV lists, as well as dedicated IPTV streaming apps like VancedFlix, PikaShow, Castle, and FlixFox.
Comparison with Previous Years
When analyzing historical data, there is a noticeable upward trend in DMCA requests and affected projects on GitHub. In 2022, the platform processed 2,321 valid takedown requests, which resulted in the removal of 25,501 projects. This represents a 31% increase compared to 2021 when 1,828 requests were processed, leading to the removal of 19,276 projects. Despite this increase, it is important to highlight that these numbers represent a tiny fraction compared to the total number of repositories hosted on GitHub, which exceeds 200 million. In 2024, although the number of requests slightly decreased to 2,000, the number of projects removed rose to 31,151, suggesting that these requests encompassed projects with multiple forks.
Circumvention Requests
In addition to takedown requests under the DMCA, GitHub specifically breaks down requests that contain allegations of circumvention of technological protection measures. These have continued to rise, with 465 requests in 2024 compared to 365 in 2022 and 92 in 2021. Processing these requests is quite costly for the company, as all are meticulously examined by internal experts. This increase is partly attributed to the incident with YouTube-DL, after which GitHub launched a million-dollar defense fund for developers to support affected users.
In summary, while there has been an increase in takedown requests and affected projects, GitHub remains committed to transparency and the protection of developers, ensuring that the vast majority of legitimate projects remain intact.