YouTube creators who find themselves the subject of coordinated harassment and hate speech campaigns are being asked to avoid seeking help and instead file copyright strike claims, with YouTube support staff saying that they “actually have a policy for that”.

Recently updated guidelines from the technology giant now suggest that, rather than filing a support ticket or tweeting at the community team, creators who find themselves under attack should just “pretend to own the copyright to their harassers’ intro music, or whatever”.

Within hours of lodging false copyright strikes, LGBTIQ+ creators reported that the videos inciting violence against them had finally been removed. Reactions from prominent community members ranged from “relief” to “disgust”, although all affected agreed that it was certainly more effective than YouTube’s previous advice of “trying to not get harassed”.

Speaking to Point & Clickbait, YouTube spokesman Ralph Cludwell suggested that the company was “constantly focused on providing the most effective solution”, and that the time had come to be “more transparent” with the community.

“Look, nobody likes bigotry, and here at YouTube we’re absolutely focused on stamping out the worst bigotry of all – copyright infringement,” said Cludwell. “We look forward to working with all of our queer creators and helping them to reframe their supposed ‘death threats’ in a way that we can understand.”

“Pride Month is about celebrating who you are, and look: this is who we are. We need to live our truth, and our truth is that we will do whatever it takes to placate our corporate and financial interests, at all costs.”

“We understand that not everyone is going to be comfortable with our lifestyle choice, but we hope that in the spirit of Pride Month our queer creators can ‘get woke’ and accept us for who we are.”