Michael Moore-Produced ‘Planet of the Humans’ Doc Pulled

The Michael Moore-produced documentary “Planet of the Humans” was pulled from YouTube in a single day as a consequence of a “copyright claim by a third party” — prompting writer-director Jeff Gibbs to denounced the removing as a “blatant act of censorship.”

“It is a misuse of copyright law to shutdown a film that has opened a serious conversation about how parts of the environmental movement have gotten into bed with Wall Street and so-called ‘green capitalists,’” Gibbs mentioned in a press release Monday. “There is absolutely no copyright violation in my film. This is just another attempt by the film’s opponents to subvert the right to free speech.”

The documentary, which has drawn criticism from environmental teams for its harsh evaluation of  the efficacy of photo voltaic and wind power, has garnered 8.three million views since its launch on YouTube on April 21, in accordance with the movie’s rep, who added that the filmmakers have been involved with the Google-owned video service over the difficulty.

The producers later introduced that the movie would stream without spending a dime on Vimeo.

“When we receive a valid legal notification regarding content that allegedly violates copyright, we are required by law to remove it. YouTube is not in a position to mediate copyright disputes – it is between the parties involved. If an uploader feels that their content is covered by a fair-use exception, they can file a counter notification,” a YouTube spokesperson mentioned in response to TheWrap.

The spokesperson added that this particular takedown request seems to satisfy the DMCA’s necessities for removing, and questions of fair-use should be adjudicated in a courtroom of legislation.

According to the movie’s rep, the copyright declare stems from a four-second video clip of mining that Gibbs thought-about to be “fair use” and never requiring any particular permission in a nonfiction documentary akin to his.

In his assertion, Gibbs famous that the movie — which was meant to be accessible without spending a dime on YouTube by way of the top of June — has drawn criticism from institution environmentalists. “Opponents of ‘Planet of the Humans,’ who do not like its critique of the failures of the environmental movement, have worked for weeks to have the film taken down and to block us from appearing on TV and on livestream. Their efforts to subvert free speech have failed, with nearly eight and a half million people already viewing the film on YouTube. These Trumpian tactics are shameful, and their aim to stifle free speech and prevent people from grappling with the uncomfortable truths exposed in this film is deeply disturbing.”

Gibbs famous that the free-expression group PEN America “came out strongly and denounced the initial attempt to censor this film. “We hope all champions of free expression condemn this act of censorship. We are working with YouTube to resolve this issue and have the film back up as soon as possible,” he added.