Much-loved cricket account Robelinda2 ‘terminated’ after questionable copyright saga

Cricket fans have been left seeing red after an iconic YouTube account was permanently deleted over a questionable copyright saga.

A much-loved vintage cricket highlights account has been taken down from YouTube after a series of copyright strikes, the validity of which are unclear.

Robelinda2, the account run by Melburnian Rob Moody, was taken down on Sunday. When attempting to access the page an error message now appears.

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“Robelinda2 YouTube channel has been officially terminated,” Moody tweeted.

“14 years of fun it was! Thanks for watching!”

Robelinda2 YouTube channel has been officially terminated.

14 years of fun it was! Thanks for watching!

— Rob Moody (@robelinda2) November 5, 2023

The platform is extremely strict on copyright strikes and will delete accounts which receive three of them, with all videos uploaded being removed.

However YouTube has been heavily criticised for allowing frivolous strikes, often by people who do not actually own the rights to content. The accounts can also not be recovered.

Moody had posted in recent days about threats from an account called @MarhabaCricketIndia, which appeared to be striking his content based on their “legitimate and exclusive digital rights” in Bangladesh.

“We urge the owner of robelinda2 to remove the infringing content proactively to avoid further penalties,” one comment from the account read.

Robelinda Update.

He is being threatened that his immense Cricket YouTube Channel will be terminated.

"You have a few hours left to take the necessary action" the frivolous complainer wrote. pic.twitter.com/gukkMO1Drc

— Rhett Bartlett (@rhettrospective) November 2, 2023

Statement from the frivolous "copyrights holder" tonight, regarding Robelinda2 YouTube Channel. pic.twitter.com/M7uVXZ2zsA

— Rhett Bartlett (@rhettrospective) November 2, 2023

Late night update from Robelinda.

His famous cricket youtube channel has officially received its 2nd copyright strike

"If you get one more...we will have to terminate your channel" pic.twitter.com/kAA9sq8KW3

— Rhett Bartlett (@rhettrospective) November 3, 2023

On YouTube, the @MarhabaCricketIndia account has just 42 subscribers, primarily with videos featuring Bangladesh.

Only one of its 47 videos has received more than 650 views - a match between India and Sri Lanka from 2010.

The news of the YouTube account being terminated was met with heartbreak from cricket fans far and wide.

Should be a minute’s silence before the next round of World Cup matches. https://t.co/CJcy15igkK

— Daniel Cherny (@DanielCherny) November 5, 2023

Sad day for a lot of cricket fans. https://t.co/MaHucIoGZ9

— Peter Lalor (@plalor) November 5, 2023

Cricket journalist Melinda Farrell wrote: “This is very sad for cricket fans around the world. Rob has arguably done more to organically spread love and appreciation of the game’s history through video than anyone. And much would have been lost without his incredible archive.”

7 News reporter Ned Balme wrote: “This is a travesty. People that do sweet FA of preserving historic footage kick up a stick because others do their job better than them. In the end, the sport loses and everyone is worse off.”

ESPN’s Laurie Horesh wrote: “The internet just keeps getting worse. They can take the channel, but they can never take the memories of hours spent diving into obscure mid-late 90s tours.”

The Herald Sun’s Michael Randall wrote: “File this under big internet mistakes. What a shame.”

Moody has previously dealt with copyright threats on Twitter, however Cricket Australia said the claims were made in error and were retracted.

Originally published as Much-loved cricket account Robelinda2 ‘terminated’ after questionable copyright saga