Freebooting Reaction Clips?

Looks like someone's using someone else's YouTube content without their consent or permission. What's that called again? Freebooting? Content theft? Well let's take a look at the video first before we level such accusations against someone.

The video is called "TOP "Bruce Identity Revealed" Reactions! Batman Begins (2005) Movie Reaction" and it was uploaded today, July 17, 2025 by a youtuber reaction compilation curator with the channel named First Time Watching who has uploaded 715 videos and amassed about 74,000 subscribers and over 57 million views since he started his channel, I don't know, probably years ago if he's posted over 700 video, right?

Nope. He created this channel January 2024, so he has been cranking these videos out since then.

Looking at his upload schedule the Batman reaction video is the 17th video posted in the last 7 days, so you know our guy has been grinding out the content.

Its like he's a machine! Am I right?

But where's our content creator? Oh there he is! At the end of the video for about a hot minute or so. His contribution to the compilation is just his own reaction to the Batman reveal "OMG! That Batman reveal" and describes Rachel's surprise discovering Bruce Wayne being his secret identity.

The commentary is all about the clip we the viewer just watched and the 24 various reactors watched.

Um... but how was that transformative? That's one of the main parts of free use, the transformative part. If you use the content someone else has created and posted on Youtube and elsewhere, simply cutting and pasting their content without, at the very least, justifying its use by saying something about the reactors' reactions is just a bit dishonest. At worst it's called freebooting or content theft.

As I mentioned, there are 24 different channels whose content was lifted and stitched together for this compilation video but there is no transformative use of their content. Its just compiled so First Time Watching can skim some views (57 million so far) and grab a little Adsense revenue.

I wonder if these reactors know he's using their content or if he had their permission? I know they'd probably like there own content to be properly credited and receive views and Adsense revenue for their own stuff but he doesn't even provide a link back the reactors' channels and likely didn't even bother to tell them.

CREDIT THE CREATORS!

I'll provide a proper link here to each of the real content creators:

Mentally Gone Reactions (41K subs)

The Media Knights (330 subs)

CinePals (694K subs)

InnaSoloTV (18K subs)

Natasca Summers (45K subs)

Movies With Miranda (91K subs)

Criminal Content (55K subs)

LiteWeight Reacting (102K subs)

CineBinge (207K subs)

Alex Hefner's TV and Movie Vault (429K subs)

Magic Magy (261K subs)

Natalie Gold (494K subs)

ANGELINA (262K subs)

Just Stef (144K subs)

VKunia (272K subs)

Reelin’ with Asia and BJ (234K subs)

Movie Munchies (92K subs)

JUST TRUST ASH (243K subs)

Holden and Jen Hardman (309K subs)

Addie Counts (117K subs)

Centane (100K subs)

Jen Murray (101K subs)

The Perfect Mix (261K subs)

Ashleigh Burton (200K subs)

See? Not so hard to provide a backlink to the person or channel that put in the work and uploaded the original video. Credit the creators in the description area. Its that simple.

When you look at the description for this Batman reaction video, all you get is a list of the various reactors who did the real heavy lifting to create this content. There's a link beside there names but it isn't a link to their channel, it's a link to where they show up in the video. Each clip First Time Watching lifted is not changed (or transformed), it is placed together like a jigsaw puzzle (unchanged) so he can try to claim the content (the video as a whole) as his own. This is NOT free use, even though he puts a "fair use" disclaimer in the description:

"Copyright Disclaimer under section 107 of the Copyright Act of 1976, allowance is made for “fair use” for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, education and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing.”

So where in this video does he provide any "criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, education and research" about the reaction clips used?

But what about his comments at the end?Isn't that "commentary"?

No. He provides his own reaction to the same Batman clip. He doesn't comment or react to the actual reaction clips that provide the bulk of this video.

But why do I care and why would someone else? Because it diverts the traffic, the audience and the potential revenue the owners' of this intellectual property (the reactors themselves) who created the videos in the first place. Their hard work should receive the proper opportunities posting them should receive in the first place.

The video description does say:

"If any creator or movie reactor would like us to stop using videos of them in our content, please reach out to us at" and provides an email so if they want to reach out to First Time Watching to tell them to stop using their stuff, but doesn't say they'll remove their content that they've already used which is unfortunate.

Maybe the content owners don't know or don't care their work is being freebooted, but you could let them know by telling them on their own videos or via whatever contact info they provide.

Just noticed that while writing this blog post he's uploaded another video for a different movie. Taking a look, he's using the reactions from many of the same youtubers he "borrowed" for the Batman reaction video above and some new ones.

So that makes 18 videos he's posted in the last seven days using the work created by others. If you're a reactor wondering where your audience is, maybe take a look.

In conclusion, First Time Watching isn't the only channel doing this although I think he may have another channel or two using this content. There are several that have been springing up in the last year or three that are monetizing freebooted content, likely because no one says anything or tells them to remove their content.