Italian YouTuber Faces Jail Time for Showing Android Handhelds With Emulated Games

The games on the devices shown by the content creator may not be entirely legal. That was enough for Italian law enforcement to ding him for “promotion of pirated copyrighted materials.”

There are countless Android-powered gaming handhelds, but they go beyond the usual slate of Android games by offering console emulation support. The problem is the game ROMs on these devices, which are not entirely legal.

Italian YouTuber Once Were Nerd is learning how seriously some rights holders are taking game piracy after agents from the country's Guardia di Finanza showed up to confiscate his consoles. He now says the investigation could lead to criminal charges and the end of his channel.

Once Were Nerd has produced YouTube content covering a plethora of gaming topics, including Android-based handheld game machines from the likes of Powkiddy and TrimUI. These devices usually run ...