YouTube has a copyright problem. While the platform’s AI-powered Content ID prevents illegal uploads of copyrighted material, it often strikes legitimate authors with copyright claims, even if they haven’t violated YouTube’s policies. Fortunately, the company is adding a new tool “Checks” that can help you track down potential copyright claims before a video has been published, and avoid blocked or demonetized videos – or worse.
To use the new Checks tool, open YouTube Studio on your desktop and upload your video as normal. YouTube’s Content ID checks for copyrighted material as it ‘s upload and analyzees the content, description and metadata of the video for ‘Ad appropriateness“Issues.
YouTube says the copyright scan only takes a few minutes, while the ad-eligibility check takes longer. It is best to publish the video after the checks have been run, but users can publish videos while the checks are still running and check them later.
Once the review process is complete, you will see green check marks if you pass, or yellow / red warnings if there is a problem with your video.
If you get a warning, don’t worry. These are pre-emptive notifications so you can troubleshoot before a video is made public. Claims against you will not take effect until after the video is published, so make sure to edit your video or dispute the claim to avoid demonetization, blocked or deleted videos, and further copyright claims that could harm your channel.
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What to do if you get a copyright or ad eligibility warning
Copyright Warnings
For copyright claims you can:
- Use YouTube Studio’s built-in editing tools to trim, mute, or replace the highlighted portion of the video.
- Edit and retryupload a new version of the video with the copyrighted portion removed.
- Disputes the claim. Doing so will hold ad revenue until the dispute is resolved.
- Publish the video without addressing the issues. This can affect its visibility and any advertising revenue will go to the rights holder if you do not resolve or dispute the claim. In some cases, videos can be blocked if the copyright claims are serious enough and left untreated.
Ad Eligibility Alerts
If your video is marked with an ad eligibility warning, you can update the video and / or its metadata to resolve the issue or dispute the claim.
YouTube’s official announcement post provides guidelines for updating metadata and editing the content of your video to resolve ad appropriateness issues.
If you choose to dispute the ad eligibility warning, a real person will review your video against YouTube’s ad policies and will email you once a verdict is reached. This can take several days.
It is important to note that videos are only scanned for potential Content ID claims during the first upload. Manual copyright strikes can still occur after a video is published, and future ad-eligibility issues are possible if changes to YouTube’s ad policies obsolete your metadata. Still, YouTube hopes the new controls will make Content ID claims easier to handle.