Russian YouTube channel 'This is Khorosho,' known for reviewing viral videos for 16 years, to shut down
Blogger Stas Davydov announced that the YouTube channel 'This is Khorosho,' which reviewed viral videos since 2010, is closing after repeated copyright disputes. The channel will hold a farewell livestream in early September.
Russian blogger Stas Davydov has announced that the YouTube channel 'This is Khorosho' ('This Is Good') is shutting down. The channel, which had reviewed viral and funny videos since 2010, is ending its run following a series of copyright disputes over clips used in its episodes.
Rights disputes
According to Davydov, several companies that acquired rights to viral videos had for some time been collecting ad revenue from nearly all of the channel's older episodes, even when only one video featured in an episode technically belonged to them. He said these companies frequently bought the rights to clips only after they had already appeared on the channel, and often the rights weren't purchased from the actual creators at all — what mattered was simply being able to show YouTube's internal system that they held the rights.
A particularly sharp dispute arose with the American company ViralHog, which filed copyright claims over the use of clips and reported the channel to YouTube. Those claims forced the channel's creators to delete hundreds of episodes.
Tired of fighting
Davydov called the situation with ViralHog 'one more drop in a cup of patience that was already overflowing,' saying the team was simply tired of fighting to keep the channel alive. Old episodes are expected to gradually disappear from YouTube.
The channel plans to hold a farewell livestream in early September. 'This is Khorosho' had been active on YouTube since 2010 and gained popularity for its reviews of viral videos, growing to more than 6.3 million subscribers and around 1,800 published videos.
