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Ethan Klein, creator of the H3 Podcast, is currently trending on Reddit after a member (u/Forever-Snark-6080) on his official subreddit (r/h3h3_productions) posted that the former allegedly issued DMCA takedowns against channels using members-only content. These takedowns were allegedly processed by a lawyer on behalf of Ted Entertainment, Inc. (TEI), the company Klein co-founded.
The intention behind the DMCA strikes was first hinted at on January 25, 2024. During the H3 podcast episode, Klein said:
"If people are jacking our content and profiting off it, you know, let's not do that. If it's a clip with a title and contained and it's reasonable, you're fine."
Trending
(Timestamp: 00:18:19)
Ethan Klein DMCA controversy explained
One of the Reddit pages that has faced these DMCA takedowns via Ethan Klein is r/h3snark. The Redditor who made the post claimed that on November 22, 2024, they posted a 20-second clip from Klein's H3 Show #83. On the same day, Ted Entertainment, Inc. (TEI) filed the first DMCA notice.
A similar situation transpired when a one-minute-50-second clip from H3 Show #85 was shared on r/h3snark on November 25, 2024. TEI filed a second DMCA notice the following day.
Read u/Forever-Snark-6080's entire post here
On November 29, 2024, Reddit's Legal Operations team removed the original poster’s (OP) first post in response to the initial DMCA notice. The OP also received a warning from Reddit admins.
The OP's second post too, was removed by Reddit's Legal Operations team. To support these claims, a screenshot was shared alongside the post today:
Ethan Klein gets criticized for alleged censorship
Although Ethan Klein had suggested that only members-only content would be subject to DMCA strikes, it seems that clips from publicly available podcasts have also faced similar actions.
This garnered negative feedback from the community. The OP has claimed that it is an attempt to silence criticism of himself (Klein) and the H3 Podcast:
"H3 has censored criticism from viewers and long-time fans by disabling/heavily filtering/deleting comments on YouTube, shadowbanning paying members from participating in the members-only livechat, and banning people for even the slightest pushback."
The OP also highlighted how Klein allegedly doxxed members of r/h3snark:
"He doxxed YouTuber North Star Radio live on air, berating him in front of reportedly tens of thousands of viewers, for posting on h3snark and making a critical commentary video about the end of Leftovers."
The post also alleged Ethan of censorship:
"We believe Ethan is striking publicly accessible, non-members clips on h3snark as part of a larger project of censoring criticism about him on platforms he can’t control himself."
What is the h3snark subreddit?
For those wondering, r/h3snark is a subreddit created in April 2023 that primarily focuses on criticism of Ethan Klein and the H3 Podcast. It is a public forum with over 31K members at the time of writing.
Most of its posts target Klein and his team. For example, in August 2024, the subreddit shared a clip showing Ethan and Hila Klein allegedly berating an employee for mistakenly pressing the wrong button, triggering an unintended action.
The subreddit has faced criticism for occasionally making certain claims. One controversial post, for instance, suggested that Ethan Klein had a questionable relationship with his co-worker Lena Ayad.
Another controversy involving the subreddit arose when it discussed a tier list created by Frogan. Ethan Klein was particularly critical of this because the tier list included a section controversially titled "Loves Sabra" (Sabra is used to describe a native-born Israeli). As a Jewish community member, Ethan found this offensive, especially since he was included in that section.
The OP also encouraged Redditors to share only transformative clips of the H3 Podcast on r/h3snark. This entails including criticism or commentary in the title or comment, fostering discussion, and incorporating transformative elements.
