On March 23, mikf, the maintainer of the open-source download tool gallery-dl, reported receiving a DMCA copyright takedown notice from FAKKU. The notice targets 29 repositories, including gallery-dl, alleging that these tools use automated means to bypass technical restrictions and scrape data in bulk from adult content platforms.
FAKKU’s notice explicitly lists the files that must be removed, including extractor code for platforms such as nhentai, exhentai, hitomi, and hentaifoundry. FAKKU claims that this code facilitates the illegal circumvention of copyright protection infrastructure. To comply, FAKKU has demanded that the project maintainer permanently purge the code by rewriting the Git history within seven days.
Developers Face a Dilemma
Faced with this sudden legal pressure, mikf expressed his strong frustration and confusion on a GitHub discussion thread. He stated that he is deeply opposed to rewriting the repository's history to satisfy the takedown request, hinting that he would rather migrate the project to another platform than make such destructive changes.
The community response has been intense. User “thatfuckingbird” bluntly called the allegations baseless, noting that some of the mentioned websites have already worked with FAKKU to remove the relevant copyrighted content. Another user, “Chad90b,” analyzed the current limitations, suggesting that the project maintainer consider removing only the specific extractors, filing a counter-notice, or leaving GitHub entirely for platforms like Codeberg.
Currently, the incident has sparked a broader discussion within the open-source community regarding GitHub’s compliance policies and how open-source projects should handle legal pressure from copyright holders. While mikf has yet to announce a final decision, whether the project will migrate away from GitHub has become a major point of concern.
