YouTube reveals millions of videos get hit with incorrect copyright claims

2.2 million incorrect claims represent less than 1 percent of the more than 729 million total copyright claims issued in the first half of this year

PGurus Newsdesk

December 7, 2021

2.2 million incorrect claims represent less than 1 percent of the more than 729 million total copyright claims issued in the first half of this year

Millions of videos are slapped with incorrect copyright infringement, YouTube admits it

According to a new study released by YouTube, over 2.2 million YouTube videos were subjected to copyright accusations, between January and June this year, which were later overturned.

The Copyright Transparency Report is the first of its kind published by YouTube, which said it will update biannually going forward.

Among the over 729 million copyright requests issued in the first half of this year, 2.2 million wrong requests accounted for less than 1%, 99% of which came from Content ID, YouTube’s automatic law enforcement tool. According to the report, when users disputed these claims, 60% of the cases were resolved in favor of the video uploader.

When users disputed these claims, the case was resolved in favor of the uploader of the video 60 percent of the time, according to the report. Copyright claims can result in videos being blocked, audio being muted, or ad revenue going back to the rights owner.

Though mistaken copyright claims are a drop in the bucket on a larger scale, YouTube creators have long complained about how the platform handles claims, saying overly aggressive or unjustified enforcement can lead to lost income.

This new report gives shape to a problem that YouTube itself has acknowledged needs updating, the report said.

In 2019, YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki said in a blog post that the company heard the concerns from creators and that YouTube was “exploring improvements in striking the right balance between copyright owners and creators”.

The new report notes that “no system is perfect” and that errors happen even with established guardrails in place to prevent abuse of enforcement mechanisms.

“When disputes take place, the process provided by YouTube provides real recourse, and over 60 percent of these disputes were resolved in favor of the uploader,” the report said.

[With Inputs from IANS]
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