A24 hits old Backrooms content with copyright strikes
Backrooms artists and game devs are getting copyright strikes, some on work that predates A24’s movie by years. A24 says the ones it’s aware of were automated errors and retracted them. Director Kane Parsons is publicly siding with the fans. Meanwhile the thing everyone’s fighting over started as an anonymous 4chan post.
The Backrooms started in 2019 as an anonymous post on 4chan. A photo of an empty yellow room and some text about noclipping out of reality.
Nobody signed it. Nobody owns it.
Which is why the last week has been such a mess.
What’s getting taken down
An artist posted to Reddit that their Backrooms wallpaper design was pulled from Redbubble after a complaint filed “on behalf of” A24. The design was a recreation of the pattern from the original 2019 image, made in 2023, three years before the movie existed.
Indie developer Davilkus Games says three copyright strikes got its Google Play developer account banned, and that it was forced to rename Exit the Backrooms: Level 94 to Liminal Complex: Level 94 after Google cited its impersonation policy.
A fan account called Backrooms Online got taken down too. Others reported games, textile designs, and wallpaper vanishing from various platforms.
The director is siding against his own distributor
Kane Parsons made the nine-minute found-footage video that turned the Backrooms into a phenomenon. He was 16. He directed the A24 film that followed, which took $117.9 million worldwide on a $10 million budget, gave A24 its biggest opening ever, and made him the youngest filmmaker to ever hit number one.
His response to the takedowns, on Reddit: “I’m looking into this. Should not be happening.”
He’s since told fans on Discord that A24 confirmed some of the takedowns, specifically the wallpaper, were done in error. And that the game strikes and the Backrooms Online removal weren’t A24 at all. Nobody knows who filed those.
Parsons noted that sorting it out is A24’s job, but that he’s “being thorough.”
A24 says the machine did it
Per a source close to the situation who spoke to ScreenCrush, the Redbubble claim was triggered by an automated system, A24 didn’t submit an intentional claim, and it’s been retracted.
The artist walked it back partway too, updating their post to say they don’t actually know whether A24 filed the complaint or an unrelated third party did.
That third-party possibility isn’t paranoia. Destiny 2 creators got hit with a wave of copyright strikes a few years back from someone using a fake Gmail account to impersonate Bungie. Bungie sued them. Google’s system couldn’t tell the difference.
Here’s the actual problem
A24 owns the movie. It owns Parsons’ original assets. It does not own the concept.
You can’t own the concept. It came from an anonymous 4chan post and got built out by thousands of people over seven years, the same way SCP Foundation works, where the stories belong to their creators and the community.
But an automated copyright system doesn’t know that. It knows a yellow room. It sees a yellow room on Redbubble, matches it against a movie about a yellow room, and pulls the trigger.
And when it does, there’s nobody on the other side. The 2019 image has no rights holder to say “actually, that’s ours, and it’s everyone’s.” The commons doesn’t have a legal department.
That’s the trap with open-source folklore. It works beautifully until money shows up, and then the only party with lawyers is the one who filmed it.
Where it stands
Some takedowns are retracted. Some weren’t A24’s to begin with. Some devs are still banned from Google Play, and Davilkus is shipping a game with a name it didn’t choose.
Parsons is 20 years old and currently doing his distributor’s cleanup for it, in a Discord, because he’s the only person in this who seems to remember where the thing came from.
Everybody built the Backrooms. Exactly one entity has the takedown button.
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Article compiled and edited by Derek Gibbs (entertainment editor) and the Clownfish TV newsroom.
Hat Tips:
Kotaku, TheGamer, and ScreenCrush (July 15-16, 2026), verified the takedown reports and the response — an artist’s Backrooms-inspired wallpaper design removed from Redbubble following a complaint filed “on behalf of” A24 despite being recreated in 2023 from the original 2019 Backrooms image, ScreenCrush’s source close to the situation confirming the Redbubble claim was triggered via an automated system rather than an intentional A24 submission and has since been retracted, and the artist’s own update clarifying they do not know whether A24 or an unrelated third party filed the complaint
ComicBook.com and PopCultureNews (July 16, 2026), verified Kane Parsons’ involvement and the wider reports — Parsons’ Reddit comment that “I’m looking into this. Should not be happening,” his Discord update that A24 confirmed some takedowns including the wallpaper were done in error while the game takedowns and the removal of the Backrooms Online account were not A24’s doing with responsibility unclear, his comment that resolving it is A24’s job but he is “being thorough,” Davilkus Games’ claim that three copyright strikes resulted in a Google Play developer account ban and forced the rename of Exit the Backrooms: Level 94 to Liminal Complex: Level 94 under Google’s impersonation policy, and the point that Parsons does not own the broader Backrooms concept
Wikipedia and Sportskeeda (2019-2026), verified the background — the Backrooms originating as an anonymous creepypasta on 4chan in 2019 and developing collaboratively through stories, videos and games, Kane Parsons creating his nine-minute found-footage series at 16, the 2026 A24 film grossing $81.4 million domestically and $117.9 million worldwide on a $10 million budget to become A24’s biggest opening and make Parsons the youngest filmmaker to reach number one, the comparison to SCP Foundation where stories belong to their creators and community, and the documented case of fraudulent DMCA strikes filed against Destiny 2 creators via a fake Gmail account impersonating Bungie, which led Bungie to sue