Between January and June of this year, over 2.2 million YouTube videos were subjected to copyright claims, which were later reversed, according to a new report released by the largest video sharing platform. YouTube’s Copyright Transparency Report is the first of its type, and it will be updated biannually in the future.
The 2.2 million false claims account for less than 1% of the more than 729 million total copyright claims filed in the first half of this year, with Content ID, YouTube’s automatic enforcement tool, accounting for 99 percent of them.
According to the research, 60 percent of the time when users challenged these takedowns, the case was resolved in favour of the video’s uploader.
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Though inaccurate copyright claims have been decreased on a larger scale, YouTube artists have long argued about the platform’s handling of claims, stating that incredibly harsh or unreasonable enforcement can result in lost revenue.
Claims for copyright can result in videos being blocked, audio being muted, or ad income being returned to the rights owner. This new research gives structure to a problem that YouTube has admitted as in need of improvement.
In a blog post published in 2019, YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki stated that the company has heard creators’ concerns and that the company was “exploring advances in striking the proper balance between copyright owners and creators.”
According to the latest research, “no system is flawless,” and mistakes happen even when precautions are taken to prevent exploitation of enforcement procedures.
“When disputes arise, the YouTube process gives meaningful recourse, and over 60% of these issues were resolved in favour of the uploader,” according to the research.
