The Act Man vs. Quantum TV (2024)

About

The Act Man vs. Quantum TV refers to an ongoing feud between YouTubers The Act Man and Quantum TV surrounding Quantum TV unfairly copyright striking The Act Man, Mischief and several other YouTubers for making critical videos on him using his footage. The copyright strikes resulted in The Act Man and others exposing Quantum TV's alleged hom*ophobic and otherwise problematic past behavior online, resulting in an attempt to get Quantum TV's channel removed for both the abuse of the copyright system and hate speech. In June 2022, YouTube decided not to take action on Quantum TV's channel and demonetized The Act Man's channel, removing him from the partnership program. This was seen by many as YouTube "siding" with Quantum TV unfairly, sparking the "#JusticeForActMan" hashtag.

History

Quantum TV Copyright Strikes Mischief

In March 2022, YouTuber Quantum TV posted a video criticizing the video game Elden Ring, telling people "don't buy this game." His main complaints surround the game's difficulty, "toxic fanbase," graphics and frame rate, calling the story "lackluster." The video became the subject of critical responses, many seeing the arguments against the game as invalid. The video has since been removed.

That month, YouTuber^[1] Mischief made a response video to Quantum TV's review, calling him out for having a "bad take" on Elden Ring (shown below, left, reuploaded). On March 15th, Mischief posted a video to YouTube^[2] (shown below) titled, "QUANTUM TV – Copyright Abuser AND Fat Shamer," explaining how Quantum TV falsely copyright struck his video for using Quantum TV's footage. In the video, Mischief shares a number of comments Quantum TV made under the video response demanding Mischief remove his footage from the video and claiming it's a violation of YouTube's TOS to download another creator's clips using third-party software. Mischief refutes these claims. He also claims Quantum TV told Elden Rings players to kill themselves. Quantum TV posted and deleted a response to the video claiming Mischief used too much of his video. Mischief also responds to this, claiming Quantum TV used bad sources to defend his stance.

Mischief exposed Quantum TV's past hom*ophobic, bigotted and otherwise hateful past online content in numerous posts on YouTube and Twitter that month. On March 16th, Wordpress^[21] user lucien0maverick posed an article sharing several now-deleted hom*ophobic tweets from Quantum TV, including a comment Quantum TV purportedly made wishing the creators of The Last Of Us 2 were victims of the Pulse Nightclub shooting. On March 20th, Mischief posted a video to YouTube showing evidence of Quantum TV's alleged hom*ophobia online, including numerous hom*ophobic tweets and posts on social media (shown below).

Quantum TV Copyright Strikes The Act Man

On April 10th, 2022, YouTuber^[3] The Act Man uploaded a video titled "The WORST Elden Ring Hot Takes" where he reacts to Quantum TVs review and the copyright strike drama between Quantum and Mischief. The video gained over 1.9 million views in two months.

On April 19th, The Act Man posted a tweet^[4] sharing a copyright strike form against his video filed by Quantum TV (shown below). In the tweet, he writes, "Unfortunately for him, YouTube actually knows what Fair Use is and rejected his takedown request," gaining over 10,000 likes in two months (shown below, left). That same day, The Act Man tweeted^[5] a comment by Quantum TV suggesting he's seeking "other options" to deal with The Act Man's alleged copyright abuse (shown below, right).

The Act Man tweeted^[6] a screenshot of DMs between the two of them later that day where Quantum TV claims using his deleted video footage from the review constitutes piracy (shown below).

On April 20th, YouTuber^[7] SomeOrdinaryGamers posted a video about the drama, Quantum TV's abuses of YouTube's copyright system and defending The Act Man, gaining over 600,000 views in two months (shown below). On April 21st, The Act Man tweeted^[8] hypothesizing that Quantum TV committed perjury by filing the false claim.

On the same day, The Act Man tweeted^[9] an alleged Discord message posted by Quantum TV that March making several hom*ophobic remarks and claiming some YouTube tech reviewers are "satanists," gaining over 11,000 likes in two months (shown below).

On April 23rd, The Act Man posted a video to YouTube^[10] (shown below) going over Quantum TV's abuse of the copyright system, citing his back-and-forth with Mischief and his attempts to copyright strike other YouTubers unfairly, including ReviewTechUSA. He also suggests that Quantum TV is evading a hate speech ban from YouTube, citing hom*ophobic videos and remarks Quantum TV made on social media, purportedly including telling one member of the LGBTQ+ community they deserve to die. The video gained over 1.9 million views in two months. On April 24th, YouTuber^[11] Griffin Gaming posted a video sharing a story of Quantum TV copyright striking him.

On April 25th, The Act Man tweeted^[12] claiming Quantum TV messaged his mother, writing, "I can confirm that Quantum TV is threatening me and my family with doxxing and violence. Even reached out to my mother saying, 'We wouldn't want families to get hurt or involved in this.'" On April 26th, Quantum TV uploaded a video where he admits to calling The Act Man's mom and plays his side of the phone call with her (shown below).

In May 2022, The Act Man was purportedly in talks with representatives at YouTube about taking action against Quantum TV's channel for his hom*ophobic and problematic remarks and videos and abuse of YouTube's copyright systems. On May 3rd, he tweeted,^[13] "I am still in talks with YouTube about the Quantum TV business. Hope to give you all a status update by the end of this week." On May 5th, The Act Man posted a video to Twitter^[14] saying he was compiling all evidence of Quantum TV's problematic behavior to hand to YouTube, asking viewers to send any evidence his way (shown below).

Update on Quantum TV: pic.twitter.com/QIxwXMbnJE
— The Act Man (@TheActMan_YT) May 5, 2022

On May 31st, Quantum TV posted a video to YouTube^[15] (shown below, left) sharing a message from YouTube claiming Quantum TV did not abuse TOS or community guidelines and that no action would be taken against his channel. In the video, Quantum TV claims he disavowed the past hom*ophobic remarks and that some of them were supposedly made due to a hack, also admitting to contacting The Act Man's mother but denying doxxing her. On June 2nd, he posted another video on the matter claiming The Act Man doesn't understand copyright abuse (shown below, right).

YouTube's Response

Following the video, The Act Man posted a 50-minute-long video on June 8th, 2022, titled "The Dark Age Of Youtube" about YouTube finding Quantum TV innocent. In the video, he further exposes Quantum TV for past hateful behavior and reiterates past hateful behavior (reupload shown below). On June 7th, The Act Man tweeted, "The Dark Age of YouTube was just taken down from YouTube. I'm f*cking rattled," gaining over 83,000 likes in two days.

The Act Man's Removal From The Partnership Program

On June 8th, The Act Man tweeted,^[16] "My YouTube partner just reached out to me to inform me that at some point I will be removed from the YouTube Partner Program and my channel will be completely demonetized. I am going to continue working with my partner on this matter. All video plans will be put on hold," gaining over 49,000 likes in a day (shown below).

That day, The Act Man tweeted,^[22] "The channel is officially demonetized," showing a screenshot to prove it, gaining over 81,000 likes in two days. YouTube responded to the tweet^[23] saying they removed him for "threatening to dox the families of YouTube employees and creators," writing, "as discussed, your YPP suspension followed your now-deleted tweet threatening to dox the families of YouTube employees & creators. we don’t take these decisions lightly & want you to know we’re taking your concerns just as seriously. we’ll keep working with you directly on this."

On June 9th, The Act Man tweeted^[24] a screenshot of the now-deleted tweet where he jokes that he's making a new series of videos where he doxxes YouTube employees, referencing how Quantum TV tried to dox his family (shown below).

#JusticeForActMan

Following YouTube's response, the hashtag "#JusticeForActMan" started to spread on Twitter in support of The Act Man. On June 8th, 2022, Twitter^[17] user @RockinStampede posted a meme summarizing the drama, gaining over 21,000 likes in a day (shown below, left). On the same day, Twitter^[18] user @TheNadeGod encouraged users to cancel YouTube Premium over the controversy, gaining over 13,000 likes in a day (shown below, right).

On June 9th, YouTuber Mischief posted a video encouraging viewers to use the hashtag in defense of the YouTuber, gaining over 35,000 views in under a day (shown below).

Reactions

Throughout the controversy, The Act Man gained a more noticeable amount of support online than Quantum TV, particularly from other prominent YouTubers. On April 23rd, 2022, YouTuber^[19] Asmongold posted a video reacting to the controversy, siding with The Act Man, gaining over a million views in two months (shown below, left). On April 26th, YouTuber^[20] Cr1tikal posted a video about the drama, also siding with The Act Man, gaining over 3 million views in two months (shown below, right).

After The Act Man's Demonetization

Following The Act Man's removal from the partnership program, some content creators posted videos showing support for him and criticizing YouTube. On June 8th, Cr1tikal posted a video reacting to YouTube's decision titled "Sad Day for Youtube," gaining over 3.5 million views in a day (shown below, left). On June 9th, Philip Defranco covered the topic (shown below, right).