An Italian YouTuber who is known for reviewing various gaming handhelds could be facing jail time for doing just that. Retro gaming YouTuber Once Were Nerd has taken to the platform to reveal that he is being investigated by the Italian government for the promotion of pirated copyrighted games.
According to Once Were Nerd, on April 15 members from the Guardia di Finanza, a militarized law enforcement agency in Italy under the authority of the Ministry of Economy and Finance, showed up with a search warrant. Complying with their orders, the agency seized over 30 handheld gaming systems and his phone. He even showed the agency his conversations with the various manufacturers.
The devices in question appear to be third-party gaming handhelds from companies like Anbernic, GoRetroid, and others that usually ship with ROMs of various games that are often pirated from publishers like Nintendo and Sony.
He said that he’s accused of promoting copyrighted material via social media, which, under under Article 171-ter of Italian Copyright Law, is illegal in the country. However, he says, none of his handheld reviews were sponsored by the company, nor did he include any sort of affiliate links to the products. He claims there were impartial reviews of an available product with no intent to promote copyrighted games themselves.
Should the investigation move forward and Once Were Nerd be officially charged, he could face up to three years of jail time and fines up to 30 million Italian Lira. In the mean time, Once Were Nerd has to wait for an update on the investigation while dealing with the risk of the Guardia di Finanza have all of his channels shut down.
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Mike has been covering the gaming industry since 2012, and has reported on some of the largest events in the industry while also working as an investigative reporter. Outside of…
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