TikToker’s Attempt to Unmask Hater Thwarted by Judge

Alireza Shafiei, known online as PrettyBoyAli, is a well-known TikTok creator who took issue with a Reddit post that criticized him and shared a clip of him yelling at a viewer during a livestream. Seeking to unmask the user behind the post, Shafiei filed a DMCA request to force Reddit to reveal their identity. However, a judge has ruled against him.

In July 2025, a Reddit user named tiktoktruthseeker shared a 27-second video from a previous Shafiei livestream in the Favorited Ranks Drama subreddit. The clip featured an irate Shafiei hurling insults at a viewer, including a crude remark about their school experience and derogatory comments about their mother. The post, titled “PBA: Weaponizing SA, Homophobia, and Moms for his Angry Rant,” criticized Shafiei’s language as “homophobic” and offensive, claiming he was using sexual assault imagery to attack others.

Despite receiving fewer than 50 upvotes and comments, Shafiei noticed the post and attempted to leverage a DMCA claim to have it removed and to uncover the identity of tiktoktruthseeker. A judge intervened, making it clear that this would not be happening.

On June 26, US Magistrate Judge Thomas Hixon in California rejected Shafiei’s request to reveal the poster’s identity, affirming that the Reddit post’s sharing of the clip was protected under fair use.

Judge Hixon stated, “[The Reddit post provides] criticisms of Shafiei’s language, including his references to an individual’s mother, anal sex, and child sexual abuse.” He emphasized that even though the clip was unedited, it was used to critique Shafiei’s rhetoric, qualifying it as transformative fair use rather than infringement.

Shafiei argued that the unaltered clip didn’t transform the content enough to qualify for fair use, but Hixon referenced previous cases indicating that “physical changes are not required for a new use to be transformative.” He further noted that critical commentary is a fundamental aspect of fair use. The judge also highlighted that the Reddit user wasn’t profiting from the post, categorizing it as “non-commercial” and “transformative.”

In a humorous twist, Shafiei claimed the Reddit post was illegally sharing too much of his content. The judge pointed out that in Shafiei’s own legal filing, he referred to the video as a clip, acknowledging it as just a small segment of a larger work.

The judge remarked, “The use of a 27-second clip from someone who livestreams up to 16 hours per day is quantitatively insignificant and weighs in favor of fair use.” Talk about a misstep for someone who spends so much time online.

“For the reasons stated above, the Court finds the record establishes that Reddit’s user made fair use of Shafiei’s video clip,” the judge’s order concluded. “Consequently, the user did not infringe Shafiei’s copyrighted work, and there is no basis in the DMCA for a subpoena to compel disclosure of the user’s identity. The Court therefore denies Shafiei’s motion to compel.”

And just like that, many who were unaware of the clip or Shafiei’s antics are now likely to seek it out and hear his offensive remarks. One day, people will catch on to the Streisand Effect. But not today.