Business
Twitch Partnership Goes South as Multiple Entities Accuse Streamlabs of Rampant Plagiarism
Published
1 year agoon
By
Cory Ray
Popular streamer Pokimane has threatened to cut ties with Streamlabs, which also has a partnership with her.
Lightstream Says Streamlabs Copied Marketing Content
Twitch announced a new partnership Tuesday with the online streaming customization company Streamlabs Studios, but within hours, the news was largely overshadowed by accusations that Steamlabs has repeatedly stolen from other companies.
The Twitch collaboration was meant to make it easier for creators to stream Xbox games. Unless they were using a different service compatible with Twitch, streamers previously needed both a PC and a device known as a capture card if they wanted to add widgets and overlays to their broadcast. For example, that includes chat panels, active chat alerts, subscriber counts, and more.
With the implementation of Streamlabs, Twitch users can now personalize their streams with those features directly, even when just using a phone or tablet. Plans for Streamlab, a paid service, start at $4.99.
Lightstream, another online streaming customization company, was one of the first to launch plagiarism claims against Streamlabs. In a sarcastic tweet shared after the announcement, Lightstream included side-by-side images showing how Streamlabs’ promotional messaging was nearly identical to its own.
🤡 Hey, can I copy your homework?
— Lightstream (@Lightstream) November 16, 2021
▽ Yeah, just change it up a bit so it’s not obvious you copied.
🤡 Bet. pic.twitter.com/xODY5uDZeP
The similarities even appear in user reviews.
“Lightstream is literally one of the greatest things I’ve ever discovered. Thank you so much for making it so easy,” one review reads.
Outside of the poster’s username, the only difference between that review and one on Streamlabs’ page is that the company’s name is swapped for Lightstream’s.
‼️‼️‼️WAIT HOLY SHIT! The user reviews are even a COPY! I KNOW because I reached out to the people in the reviews for these comments when I worked at @Lightstream!
— iamBrandon🏳️🌈 (@iamBrandonTV) November 16, 2021
No @streamlabs you need to answer for this! https://t.co/JXv8GSpe0N pic.twitter.com/mPIQKdvWAn
“The team at @streamlabs should be ashamed,” Lightstream CEO and co-founder Stu Grubbs said in a much more serious condemnation of Streamlabs.
The team at @streamlabs should be ashamed. Not satisfied enough to ride @OBSProject’s hard work. Now to copy ours down to the layout and every word on our marketing site and our UX in this product. https://t.co/Lot2KPh72y
— STU 🎮🎥🎙 (@StuV2) November 16, 2021
Others Accuse Streamlabs of Plagiarism
As Grubbs noted, Streamlabs seemingly didn’t just take from Lightstream.
Later in the day, developers of the open-source software OBS tweeted, “@streamlabs reached out to us about using the OBS name. We kindly asked them not to. They did so anyway and followed up by filing a trademark. We’ve tried to sort this out in private and they have been uncooperative at every turn.”
Near the launch of SLOBS, @streamlabs reached out to us about using the OBS name. We kindly asked them not to. They did so anyway and followed up by filing a trademark
— OBS (@OBSProject) November 17, 2021
We’ve tried to sort this out in private and they have been uncooperative at every turnhttps://t.co/r1eXr3VxcJ
While what Streamlabs did is not illegal, it has confused some users who’ve assumed the two platforms are one in the same.
This whole time I thought they are just two different versions 👁👄👁 the apps are so identical besides the names.
— ATOMIC FACE (@ATOMIC_FACE) November 17, 2021
According to OBS, Streamlabs has “repeatedly disregarded the spirit of open source and of giving back” given that it’s now using a paywall to seemingly try to profit from using OBS’ name recognition.
Legally they have obeyed the terms of the GPL but they have repeatedly disregarded the spirit of open source and of giving back.
— OBS (@OBSProject) November 17, 2021
Additionally, a third entity — Elgato, a streaming hardware company — has implied via meme that Streamlabs also copied the names of one of its features and potentially even the feature itself.
Know that feel. pic.twitter.com/lqwWxL4pY9
— Elgato (@elgato) November 16, 2021
Creators Speak Out
Major Twitch streamer Pokimane, who is partnered with Streamlabs, said Tuesday that she will cut ties with the company unless it “resolve[s] this entire thread of issues.”
streamlabs better resolve this entire thread of issues or i’ll be asking them to take my face off the platform + look to use another donation service. https://t.co/jfJoxIvc0y
— imane 💜 (@imane) November 17, 2021
Meanwhile, creator Hasan Piker said, “i will never use @streamlabs again if they don’t immediately resolve this matter.”
i will never use @streamlabs again if they don’t immediately resolve this matter. https://t.co/bkLYEbTqZ0
— hasanabi (@hasanthehun) November 17, 2021
Amid the fallout, more and more people have continued to lob accusations against Streamlabs, including one who said, “During my time at Streamlabs so many people in marketing were reprimanded, put on PIP plans, and/or fired for speaking up against unethical business practices to the point where they basically got rid of the entire marketing team by late 2018.”
During my time at Streamlabs so many people in marketing were reprimanded, put on PIP plans, and/or fired for speaking up against unethical business practices to the point where they basically got rid of the entire marketing team by late 2018.
— Super_Yan (@Super__Yan) November 17, 2021
Streamlabs reached out to us back in February asking a lot of prodding questions about @joincombo only to launch a copy of our product a few months later.
— Tucker Schreiber (@tuckerschreiber) November 17, 2021
This is much worse. https://t.co/V7qqms0GLq
Let's not forget about the time Streamlabs bought targeted ads for "OBS Studio" to trick people into downloading their version. Disgusting behavior from @Logitech@LogitechG@LogitechGesport to a free and open source project made by volunteers.https://t.co/AfaoRMfRjv
— Richard Stanway (@R1CH_TL) November 17, 2021
Streamlabs Responds
Until Wednesday morning, the only statement Streamlabs made publicly was in response to the marketing accusations brought by Lightstream.
“We made a mistake,” it said Tuesday in a direct reply to Lightstream’s tweet. “Text on the landing page was placeholder text that went into production by error. This is our fault. We removed the text as soon as we found out. Our intended version is now live. Lightstream team is great and we’ve reached out directly to them to apologize.”
We made a mistake. Text on the landing page was placeholder text that went into production by error. This is our fault. We removed the text as soon as we found out. Our intended version is now live. Lightstream team is great and we’ve reached out directly to them to apologize.
— Streamlabs (@streamlabs) November 16, 2021
Streamlabs issued another statement late in the day, this time saying it is “taking immediate action to remove OBS from [its] name.”
“Streamlabs OBS is built on top of the OBS open-source platform,” it added. “Streamlabs is also open source, and our code is publicly available. We take responsibility for our actions and will support the community.”
— Streamlabs (@streamlabs) November 17, 2021
See what others are saying: (Dot eSports) (Eurogamer) (PC Gamer)
Business
Meta Reinstates Trump on Facebook and Instagram
Published
2 weeks agoon
January 26, 2023By
Lili Stenn
The company, which banned the former president two years ago for his role in inciting the Jan. 6 insurrection, now says the risk to public safety has “sufficiently receded.”
Meta Ends Suspension
Meta announced Wednesday that it will reinstate the Facebook and Instagram accounts of former President Donald Trump, just two years after he was banned for using the platforms to incite a violent insurrection.
In a blog post, the company said the suspensions would be lifted “in the coming weeks” but with “new guardrails in place to deter repeat offenses.”
Specifically, Meta stated that due to Trump’s violations of its Community Standards, he will face “heightened penalties for repeat offenses” under new protocols for “public figures whose accounts are reinstated from suspensions related to civil unrest.”
“In the event that Mr. Trump posts further violating content, the content will be removed and he will be suspended for between one month and two years, depending on the severity of the violation,” the blog post continued.
The company also noted its updated protocols address content that doesn’t violate its Community Standards but “contributes to the sort of risk that materialized on January 6, such as content that delegitimizes an upcoming election or is related to QAnon.”
However, unlike direct violations, that content would have its distribution limited, but it would not be taken down. As a penalty for repeat offenses, Meta says it “may temporarily restrict access to […] advertising tools.”
As far as why the company is doing this, it explained that it assessed whether or not to extend the “unprecedented” two-year suspension it placed on Trump back in January of 2021 and determined that the risk to public safety had “sufficiently receded.”
Meta also argued that social media is “rooted in the belief that open debate and the free flow of ideas are important values” and it does not want to “get in the way of open, public and democratic debate.”
“The public should be able to hear what their politicians are saying — the good, the bad and the ugly — so that they can make informed choices at the ballot box,” the tech giant added.
Response
Meta’s decision prompted widespread backlash from many people who argue the former president has clearly not learned from the past because he continues to share lies about the election, conspiracy theories, and other incendiary language on Truth Social.
“Trump incited an insurrection. And tried to stop the peaceful transfer of power,” Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Ca.) tweeted. “He’s shown no remorse. No contrition. Giving him back access to a social media platform to spread his lies and demagoguery is dangerous. @facebook caved, giving him a platform to do more harm.”
Trump incited an insurrection. And tried to stop the peaceful transfer of power.
— Adam Schiff (@RepAdamSchiff) January 25, 2023
He’s shown no remorse. No contrition.
Giving him back access to a social media platform to spread his lies and demagoguery is dangerous.@facebook caved, giving him a platform to do more harm.
According to estimates last month by the advocacy groups Accountable Tech and Media Matters for America, over 350 of Trump’s posts on the platform would have explicitly violated Facebook’s policies against QAnon content, election claims, and harassment of marginalized groups.
“Mark Zuckerberg’s decision to reinstate Trump’s accounts is a prime example of putting profits above people’s safety,” NAACP President Derrick Johnson told NPR.
“It’s quite astonishing that one can spew hatred, fuel conspiracies, and incite a violent insurrection at our nation’s Capitol building, and Mark Zuckerberg still believes that is not enough to remove someone from his platforms.”
However, on the other side, many conservatives and Trump supporters have cheered the move as a win for free speech.
.@Meta made the right decision. I especially like the emphasis on the users´right to access information. In the words of Frederick Douglass:
— Jacob Mchangama (@JMchangama) January 26, 2023
"To suppress free speech is a double wrong. It violates the rights of the hearer as well as those of the speaker."https://t.co/c1ZZ02SlV1
Others, like Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Oh.) also asserted that Trump “shouldn’t have been banned in the first place. Can’t happen again.”
It’s great that President Trump will be back on Facebook soon.
— Rep. Jim Jordan (@Jim_Jordan) January 26, 2023
But he shouldn’t have been banned in the first place.
Can’t happen again.
Trump himself echoed that point on in a post on Truth Social, where he claimed Facebook has lost billions of dollars both removing and reinstating him.
“Such a thing should never again happen to a sitting President, or anybody else who is not deserving of retribution! THANK YOU TO TRUTH SOCIAL FOR DOING SUCH AN INCREDIBLE JOB. YOUR GROWTH IS OUTSTANDING, AND FUTURE UNLIMITED!!!” he continued.
The question that remains, however, is whether Trump will actually go back to Facebook or Instagram. As many have noted, the two were never his main platforms. Twitter was always been his preferred outlet, and while Elon Musk reinstated his account some time ago, he has not been posting on the site.
There is also the question of how Truth Social — which Trump created and put millions of dollars into — would survive if he went back to Meta’s platforms. The company is already struggling financially, and as Axios notes, if Trump moves back, it signals to investors that he is not confident in the company.
On the other hand, Trump’s lawyers formally petitioned Meta to reinstate him, which could indicate that this goes beyond just a symbolic win and is something he actually wants. Additionally, if he were to start engaging on Facebook and Instagram again, it would immediately give him access to his over 57 million followers across the two platforms while he continues his 2024 presidential campaign.
See what others are saying: (NPR) (Axios) (The New York Times)
Business
Meta Encouraged to Change Nudity Policy in Potential Win For Free The Nipple Movement
Published
3 weeks agoon
January 18, 2023
The company’s oversight board said Meta’s current rules are too confusing to follow, and new guidelines should be developed to “respect international human rights standards.”
Rules Based in “A Binary View of Gender”
In a move many have described as a big step for Free The Nipple advocates, Meta’s oversight board released a decision Tuesday encouraging the company to modify its nudity and sexual activity policies so that social media users are treated “without discrimination on the basis of sex or gender.”
The board—which consists of lawyers, journalists, and academics—said the parent company of Facebook and Instagram should change its guidelines “so that it is governed by clear criteria that respect international human rights standards.”
Its decision came after a transgender and nonbinary couple had two different posts removed for alleged violations of Meta’s Sexual Solicitation Community Standard. Both posts included images of the couple bare-chested with their nipples covered along with captions discussing transgender healthcare, as they were fundraising for one of them to undergo top surgery.
Both posts, one from 2021 and another from 2022, were taken down after users reported it and Meta’s own automated system flagged it. The posts were restored after an appeal, but the oversight board stated that their initial removal highlights faults in the company’s policies.
“Removing these posts is not in line with Meta’s Community Standards, values or human rights responsibilities,” the board said in its decision,
According to the board, Meta’s sexual solicitation policy is too broad and creates confusion for social media users. The board also said the policy is “based on a binary view of gender and a distinction between male and female bodies.
“Such an approach makes it unclear how the rules apply to intersex, non-binary and transgender people, and requires reviewers to make rapid and subjective assessments of sex and gender, which is not practical when moderating content at scale,” the decision continued.
Free the Nipple Movement
The board stated that the rules get especially confusing regarding female nipples, “particularly as they apply to transgender and non-binary people.”
While there are exceptions to Meta’s rules, including posts in medical or health contexts, the board said that these exceptions are “often convoluted and poorly defined.”
“The lack of clarity inherent in this policy creates uncertainty for users and reviewers, and makes it unworkable in practice,” the decision said.
The board’s recommended that Meta change how it manages nudity on its platforms. The group also requested that Meta provide more details regarding what content specifically violates its Sexual Solicitation Community Standard.
For over a decade, Meta’s nudity policies have been condemned by many activists and users for strictly censoring female bodies. The Free the Nipple movement was created to combat rules that prevent users from sharing images of a bare female chest, but still allow men to freely post topless photos of themselves.
Big names including Rihanna, Miley Cyrus, and Florence Pugh have advocated for Free the Nipple.
Meta now has 60 days to respond to the board’s recommendations. In a statement to the New York Post, a spokesperson for the company said Meta is “constantly evaluating our policies to help make our platforms safer for everyone.”
See What Others Are Saying: (Mashable) (The New York Post) (Oversight Committee Decision)
Business
Amazon Labor Union Receives Official Union Certification
Published
4 weeks agoon
January 12, 2023By
Star Pralle
The company already plans to appeal the decision.
Amazon Labor Union’s Victory
The National Labor Relations Board on Wednesday certified the Amazon Labor Union (ALU) Staten Island election from April, despite Amazon’s objections.
After Staten Island staffers won the vote to unionize by 500 votes in the spring of 2022, Amazon quickly filed a slew of objections, claiming that the ALU had improperly influenced the election. Amazon pushed for the results to be overturned.
Now, the National Labor Relations Board has dismissed Amazon’s allegations and certified the election. This certification gives legitimacy to the ALU and puts Amazon in a position to be penalized should they decide not to bargain with the union in good faith.
“We’re demanding that Amazon now, after certification, meet and bargain with us,” ALU attorney Seth Goldstein said to Motherboard regarding the certification. “We’re demanding bargaining, and if we need to, we’re going to move to get a court order enforcing our bargaining rights. It’s outrageous that they’ve been violating federal labor while they continue to do so.”
Negotiate or Appeal
Amazon has until Jan. 25 to begin bargaining with the ALU, or the online retailer can appeal the decision by the same deadline. The company has already announced its plan to appeal.
“As we’ve said since the beginning, we don’t believe this election process was fair, legitimate, or representative of the majority of what our team wants,” Amazon spokesperson Kelly Nantel, said in a statement.
This win comes after two recent defeats in ALU’s unionization efforts. The union lost an election at a facility in Albany and another in Staten Island.
ALU’s director Chris Smalls told Yahoo! Finance that he is unconcerned about these losses.
“For us, whatever campaign is ready to go, the Amazon Labor Union is going to throw their support behind it, no matter what…We know that it’s going to take collective action for Amazon to come to the table,” he told the outlet. “So, for us, it’s never unsuccessful. These are growing pains, and we’re going to fight and continue to grow.”
See what others are saying: (Vice) (NPR) (Bloomberg)

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