View source for News/Italian Youtuber Sued for Reviewing Retro Consoles

{{News
|seo_title=Italian Youtuber Sued for Reviewing Retro Consoles
|seo_keywords=Youtube
|image=Swatgame.jpg
|tags=Youtube
|date=2025-07-18T10:52:00.000Z
|sources={{NewsSource
|source=Games Industry
|url=https://www.gamesindustry.biz/youtuber-raided-by-police-for-reviewing-retro-gaming-handhelds
|article=News/Italian Youtuber Sued for Reviewing Retro Consoles
}}
|author=Andura
|category=Drama
|content=Italian content creator Francesco Salicini, known online as Once Were Nerd, is under investigation following a police raid related to his reviews of handheld gaming consoles pre-loaded with retro games. The incident has raised concerns about how intellectual property laws are being applied to content creators within the gaming community.

Earlier this year, customs enforcement officers from Italy’s Guardia di Finanza executed a search warrant at Salicini’s home. Over 30 handheld devices, including models from manufacturers like ANBERNIC, Powkiddy, and TrimUI, were confiscated, along with his personal smartphone. Salicini stated that he fully cooperated with authorities and even handed over transcripts of his communications with the manufacturers.

According to reports, the investigation centers around potential violations of Article 171-ter of Italy’s Copyright Law, which penalizes unauthorized distribution of protected digital content. The statute can carry penalties of up to three years in prison and fines reaching €15k. While documents indicate that the case may involve intellectual property belonging to gaming giants like [[Companies/Nintendo|Nintendo]] and [[Companies/Sony|Sony]], the exact scope of the alleged violations remains unclear.

In a statement shared via machine translation, Salicini defended the nature of his content:

“I have never ‘sponsored’ but ‘reviewed’ with the utmost objectivity, citing both Pros and Cons of each device,” he said.

He further revealed that, as a precautionary step, authorities are moving to disable access to all of his social media accounts.

“To date, the Guardia di Finanza, as a precautionary measure, is also proceeding to obscure all my social channels, thus making it impossible for me to continue to bring other content that is not the subject of this investigation,” he explained.

'''More:'''[[News/Nsw2u Seized by FBI|Nsw2u Seized by FBI]]

Salicini now faces a likely legal battle, having already enlisted a defense attorney to navigate the proceedings.

“Unfortunately this proceeding will almost certainly lead to a trial,” he said. “I have already had to contact a defense lawyer and you can imagine how many expenses I will have to face to deal with this, in my opinion, injustice, since none of my content (more than 200 videos) violates YouTube's policies.”
}}