YouTube Criticized over Copyright Strike System
YouTube’s Copyright Strike System Lacks Verification
For many years now, there has been growing discontent with Google’s ubiquitous YouTube video platform over its copyright strike system. In the most recent iteration in the YouTube copyright saga, well-known radio channel “LoFi Girl” was taken down amidst false copyright strikes. The channel, which touts itself as a “chill” streaming station that offers music to relax to, boasts over eleven million subscribers. As such, when LoFi Girl posted on its social media that it had received a copyright strike, many fans were up in arms. LoFi Girl appealed the strike, and YouTube admitted the mistake on its social media channels, but the damage had been done. The debacle brought up YouTube’s policy and perceived inadequacies to the surface again.
No Verification on YouTube Copyright Strike Process
Content creators have been unhappy for years over the way YouTube handles copyright strikes. Basically, if you upload a video to YouTube, it can become subject to a copyright claim. That is, if someone else claims that your video contains protected material, they can file a claim with YouTube. If YouTube determines the claim has merit, it will take down the offending content and issue a copyright strike against the channel that uploaded the video. If a channel receives too many copyright strikes, the channel will be removed. The problem is that content creators claim that YouTube often issues these copyright strikes in error, unfairly penalizing innocent channels.
Many believe the issue comes from YouTube’s overreliance on an automated system to review its copyright claims. Surprisingly, it appears that YouTube does not seem to regularly use a second line of defense when it comes to reviewing these claims, and as such, many argue that copyright strikes are often issued in mistake or preemptively. Moreover, content creators have been extremely critical of another aspect of YouTube’s policy, which allows for anyone, without having to prove authority, to file a copyright strike against a channel. The disastrous effects of such a policy were exemplified when video game company, Bungie, creators of well-received video game Destiny, had their own Destiny content taken down by YouTube because a fake account filed copyright strikes against them. Without requiring any proof from the fake account that it had a legitimate claim of copyright infringement, YouTube took down Bungie’s channel, even though the claim had, ironically, been filed by an impostor pretending to be Bungie.
YouTube’s approach to copyright strikes has led to content creators becoming incredibly disgruntled with copyright law in general. As such, it behooves legal counsel to be aware of the situation, especially as many other technology platforms may continue to move to automated means.
Key Takeaways on YouTube’s Copyright Strike System
Content creators have been extremely frustrated with what they believe the be the inadequacies of copyright law due to YouTube’s copyright system which:
Relies on automated means to determine copyright infringement;
Often issues copyright strikes or sanctions against a channel before full investigation has resulted; and
Does not require proof of copyright ownership when filing a claim.
For more information about copyright infringement, see our Software Protection & Copyright Services and Industry Focused Legal Solutions pages.