How Samsung washing machine bell sparked copyright dispute on YouTube

To solve this problem, YouTube did not expedite the dispute process, which still gives rights holders up to 30 days to respond. Instead, it expedited the appeals process, which occurs after the rights holder has rejected the disputed claim and is likely the moment when a YouTuber is most at risk of having their account shut down.

“Now, the claimant will have 7 days instead of 30 to review the appeal before deciding whether to request the video be taken down, issue a claim, or let it expire,” YouTube wrote in 2022. “We hope that shortening the timeline of the appeal process will help you resolve claims much faster!”

This update will only help those YouTubers who are willing to dispute claims, such as Albinos, but not the majority of YouTubers, who the EFF said were so fearful of disputing Content ID claims that they generally accepted “any penalty the system levied against them.” The EFF summarized the dilemma many YouTubers are still caught in today:

There’s a terrible, circular logic trapping creators on YouTube. They can’t risk disputing a Content ID match because it could lead to a DMCA notice. They can’t risk a DMCA notice because it could lead to a copyright strike. They can’t risk a copyright strike because it could lead to losing their account. They can’t risk losing their account because they can’t risk losing access to YouTube’s massive audience. And they can’t risk losing access to that audience because they can’t rely on making money from YouTube ads alone, partly because Content ID often passes the ad money to rights holders when a Content ID match occurs. Which they can’t risk disputing.

For Albino, who said he has fought multiple Content ID claims, the demonetization triggered by a Samsung washing machine ringing was the final challenge that broke his patience with YouTube’s dispute process.

“This is totally out of control,” Albino wrote on X.

Catherine Trendacosta, A. Youtube Researcher And the EFF’s director of policy and advocacy, agreeing with Albino, told Ars that YouTube’s Content ID system hasn’t gotten better over the years: “It’s worse, and it’s intentionally opaque and made incredibly difficult for creators to navigate.”

“I don’t know any YouTube creators who are happy with the way Content ID works,” Trendacosta told Ars.

But while many people think YouTube’s system isn’t very good, Trendacosta also said she “can’t think of any way to make the matching technology” better, because “machines can’t tell context.” Perhaps if YouTube’s matching technology triggered a human review every time, “it could be possible,” but “they would have to hire a lot of people to do that.”

However, Trendacosta told Ars that YouTube could update its policies to make the dispute process less intimidating for content creators. Trendacosta said his research showed that the biggest problem for creators right now is not how long it takes YouTube to complete the dispute process, but “the way YouTube defines the dispute process so that you’re discouraged from doing a dispute.”

“This system is very frustrating,” Trendacosta told Ars. YouTube warns YouTubers that starting a dispute could result in a copyright strike that could get their accounts shut down. “The result is that they say, ‘You know what, I’ll eat it no matter what.'”

YouTube, which has previously dismissed complaints about the Content ID tool by saying “no system is perfect,” did not respond to Ars’ request about whether any updates to the tool are coming that might benefit creators. Instead, YouTube plans to empathize with users who can’t afford to leave the platform because of their concerns.

“We completely understand your frustration,” Team YouTube told Albino on X.

This story was originally published here Ars Technica,