gallery-dl / codeberg / dmca

The maintainer of gallery-dl, an open-source command-line media scraper, said on March 23, 2026 that they received a DMCA takedown notice from FAKKU, LLC covering gallery-dl and 28 other GitHub repositories. The notice lists specific “infringing files” in gallery-dl—extractors for nhentai, E-Hentai/ExHentai, Hitomi, and Hentai Foundry—and characterizes the tool as enabling automated mass downloading from “hentai piracy infrastructure.” According to the maintainer, the complainant expects removal of the files by rewriting the repository’s entire Git history using git-filter-repo within one week. The maintainer expressed reluctance to rewrite history and indicated a preference to move the project to another hosting platform, with commenters suggesting Codeberg. The episode highlights ongoing legal pressure on scraping tools and repository hosts.

Gallery-dl, a popular open-source media-scraping tool, is migrating its repository from GitHub to Codeberg after receiving a DMCA takedown notice. The move mirrors earlier migrations like youtube-dl and reflects growing friction between hosting platforms' takedown processes and scraper projects that argue they do not circumvent technical protections or violate copyright. Developers cite Codeberg’s Forgejo hosting in Germany, different legal incentives, and resistance to marginal takedown requests as reasons for the switch. The shift underscores a broader trend: hosting platforms and legal frameworks are becoming chokepoints for web-scraping tools, raising questions about developer rights, platform control over machine access to web content, and where open-source projects can reliably live.

gallery-dl maintainer mikf revealed a DMCA takedown from FAKKU, LLC targeting several extractors in the popular media-scraping tool, including nhentai, exhentai, hitomi and hentaifoundry. FAKKU alleges the project facilitates mass downloading and circumvention of their content controls and demanded removal of the listed files and a rewritten git history within a week. The maintainer said he prefers migrating platforms rather than rewriting history, and community responses suggested options: comply, remove specific extractors, file counter-notices, or migrate (Codeberg was proposed). The dispute highlights developer exposure to copyright claims, platform DMCA procedures, and potential project migration risks for open-source tools that interact with contentious content.

  submitted by   <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/TheTwelveYearOld"> /u/TheTwelveYearOld </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://github.com/mikf/gallery-dl/discussions/9304">[link]</a></span>   <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/programming/comments/1sdnq0f/media_scraper_gallerydl_is_moving_to_codeberg/">[comments]</a></span>