A creator explains how fraudulent copyright claims are hurting YouTube creators and damaging fair use rights. The video calls for viewers to take action and support creators facing these false claims on the platform.
I'm sorry that this video even exists, but I want to tell you guys what's going on. Long story short, you can add our channel Charisma on Command to the long and growing list of YouTube channels that are dealing with bullshit fraudulent copyright claims from companies who have no idea what Fair Use is or else do not care. Here's the short of my situation. We had a video on Conor McGregor that dealt with Conor McGregor's confidence, and it had in it clips from a lot of different interviews that I commented on transforming them clearly within Fair Use. But I received a takedown notice that said this video cannot be on YouTube because it belongs to someone else. Because of the footage. I reached out to that person and said, hey, just so you know, this video contains some of your footage, but the way that we have used it has transformed it. It falls under Fair Use. So if you would please remove that claim. This is what they said in response. Our policy, if it didn't come from your own camera or from a cameraman you hired, it's illegal. Holy shit. This is a serious problem. This person seems to think that their company dictates what is legal and illegal under US Copyright law, which is insane, but makes perfect sense given the way that the system is set up, which is he has full control to flag whatever he wants with absolutely no repercussions. But here's the ironic part. After I get this takedown notice, YouTube gives me what's called a strike. And that hampers what I can do on my account. It blocks me from applying to some of the YouTube programs that I was going to go to to learn how to better my channel. But now I can't apply. These negative things accrue to me and I'm invited to clear them to go to copyright school, which is this thing where YouTube teaches you about copyright. Ironically, the person filing this claim is the one that thinks his company sets policy on U.S. copyright law. How does that make any sense? Now I have to say, I love YouTube. I love creating videos on YouTube. It is probably the best job that I have ever had or ever could have imagined having. I love creating the videos. I love interacting with the people. I love being a part of this community. But I cannot continue to create these videos if I'm going to continue to get fraudulent strikes for no reason other than this person does not understand or care to understand fair use YouTube. I am asking you, stand up for your creators. Get their backs. I know that there was this whole Make YouTube Great Again movement and that the CEO wrote, hey, we've seen you, we hear you. But what is going to happen? Because the thing that is going on here is not just these strikes that are penalizing me, hurting me financially, but there's also this threat of lawsuit that is so common in these response emails. I've seen it myself. I've seen it in other people. And I just want to show you the kind of stuff that is typically threatened whenever a creator starts to stand up for their rights. If you choose to file a counterclaim, we will prosecute. And we will also notify our Google account representative of your channel, as they've done with other channels we've reported. They'll scrutinize it for other stolen footage and most likely terminate the channel altogether. It's your choice how you'd like to proceed. We deal with dozens of these excuses daily. Now, I don't know how many of these dozens of disputes that they deal with every day that actually fall into fair use, but I would bet that there are some. And when you receive a message like that about a Google account representative and about a lawyer on retainer, and I can't even get YouTube to respond to my emails with anything other than a stock form, that's kind of a scary threat right there. And I promise you that for every video like this that you have seen with a creator standing up and saying, this is bullshit, there are 10 others who get that email and go, you know what? I'm not even gonna fight it because it's just too hard and I stand to lose too much. This is why this kind of abuse continues. So if anyone out there from YouTube is watching this, please reach out to me. Let me know that you have my back. Let me know that you will defend my right as a creator to fair use, and let every other creator out there know. And I'm not talking about the people ripping off other people's videos and uploading half of movies onto YouTube. I'm talking about the creators who are truly transforming and creating new content from existing material that are fairly using it and legally doing so. Let them know that you have their back. We need to hear you. And honestly, more importantly to you, the viewer, I have no idea how to direct you. Honestly, every single form I've gone through has gotten me back. No response or a stock response. This stuff doesn't seem to be fixing. So the only idea that I have right now is to band together and make a lot of noise. So I'm asking you, share this video wherever you want, wherever you can. Let people know what's going on. I have no idea how this stuff surges to the surface enough that people will fight it, but I think that we're getting there. And I'll also say if you are someone that can help or if you're a creator that is dealing with this, reach out to me. CharlieRismonCommand. You can also hit me up here on YouTube. I get the sense that the only way to stop this abuse from happening is for people to band together. Because honestly I don't have a lawyer on retainer and I know that you don't either. But if enough of us band together we start to have the kind of clout that one of these companies might and we start to be able to stand up for ourselves and not get bullied around. I hope that this is the end of this. I don't think it is. And honestly I will be happy to defend my right and other creators rights to fairly use other people's stuff. So this isn't the end of it. But really, God, I hope to get back to making normal content because trust me, this stuff is not as fun as the charisma breakdowns that I ought to be doing. I love you guys. Thank you so much and I hope to see you soon with some normal content.
