Introduction What will happen if the copyright law, made to protect creativity, becomes a weapon to silence it? This question came alive in a recent controversy between Asian News International (‘ANI’) and Mohak Mangal, a YouTuber, along with several prominent Indian social media creators in May 2025. They alleged ANI of leveraging copyright claims and forcing creators to pay large sums of money for using short clips of ANI in their content. In May 2025, YouTuber Mohak Mangal