Skibidi Toilet Issues DMCA to Garry's Mod, Legitimacy in Question

Garry’s Mod creator Garry Newman reportedly received a DMCA notice from an unidentified party claiming copyright over Skibidi Toilet. Read on to understand the controversy and its ironic twist.

Skibidi Toilet Files DMCA Against Garry’s Mod

Skibidi Toilet’s Takedown Notice

On July 30, Garry Newman, the creator of Garry’s Mod, allegedly received a copyright claim demanding the removal of “unauthorized Skibidi Toilet Garry’s Mod games,” with the sender asserting that “there is absolutely no licensed Steam, Valve, Garry’s Mod content related to Skibidi Toilet.”

When news of the claim first emerged, it was believed that Invisible Narratives—the studio behind the Skibidi Toilet film and TV adaptations—had issued the notice. However, the sender’s identity has since been disputed after a Discord profile allegedly belonging to the Skibidi Toilet creator stated they did not send the DMCA, as first reported by Dexerto.

"Garry’s Mod" is a mod developed by Newman for Valve’s cult classic shooter Half-Life 2, enabling players to design and join custom game modes. The YouTube channel DaFuq!?Boom!, run by Alexey Gerasimov, repurposes Garry’s Mod assets into Source Filmmaker—Valve’s animation tool—to produce the Skibidi Toilet series. The viral videos gained a massive following, evolving into a Gen Alpha meme that spurred merchandise and an upcoming movie and TV series by Michael Bay and Adam Goodman’s studio, Invisible Narratives.

Counters to Skibidi Toilet's DMCA Claim

Garry Newman first disclosed the DMCA claim on the s&box Discord server. “You know what’s worse than the Nintendo DMCA?” he posted. “Skibidi Toilet guys sent a DMCA too… Can you believe the cheek?” He later shared a screenshot of the notice in the chat.

Invisible Narratives’ notice claims that characters such as “Titan Cameraman, Titan Speakerman, Titan TV Man, and Skibidi Toilet” are registered copyrights exclusive to their brand, citing DaFuqBoom! as the original source of these characters.

The move is surprising given the meme’s origins: Skibidi Toilet itself was created using Garry’s Mod assets, making the copyright claim particularly ironic.

While Garry’s Mod also used assets from another game—Half-Life 2—Valve officially endorsed Newman by releasing Garry’s Mod as a standalone product in 2006. Between Valve and Invisible Narratives, Valve holds stronger grounds, as they own the original Half-Life 2 assets that DaFuq!?Boom! later reused.

After Newman publicly addressed the DMCA on Discord, DaFuq!?Boom! responded on the s&box server to deny involvement: “Is there a way to contact Garry? I did NOT strike Garry’s Mod and I’m trying to understand what else is written in the letter!”

As of now, the DMCA notice was sent by an anonymous party “on behalf of copyright holder: Invisible Narratives, LLC.” The contested assets were registered by the company in 2023 under “Titan Cameraman and 3 Other Unpublished Works,” including Titan Speakerman, Titan TV Man, and Skibidi Toilet.

It remains unverified whether DaFuq!?Boom!’s denial is accurate—but this isn’t the first time the Skibidi Toilet creator has faced copyright scrutiny.

Skibidi Toilet Copyright Strikes Other YouTubers

Last September, DaFuq!?Boom! escalated prior copyright claims by targeting other YouTube channels, including GameToons, a creator producing similar content.

GameToons initially sought an amicable resolution, reaching out to DaFuq!?Boom! for a possible settlement. But their efforts were ignored as DaFuq!?Boom! filed two additional copyright strikes against them. Had these strikes been upheld, GameToons’ entire channel could have been deleted.

A week later, GameToons reached an agreement with DaFuq!?Boom! and resolved the matter through YouTube. Details of the settlement remain private, but many criticized the initial claim as inappropriate.