YouTube has a copyright issue. While Content ID with AI technology from the platform prevents illegal uploads of copyrighted material, it often reaches legitimate creators with copyright claims, even if they have not violated YouTube policies. Fortunately, the company is adding a new “Checks” tool that can help you identify potential copyright claims before a video is published and avoid blocked or demonetized videos – or worse.
To use the new Checks tool, just open YouTube Studio on the desktop and upload your video as usual. YouTube’s Content ID checks for copyrighted material as’s send and analyzees the video’s content, description and metadata for “Ad adequacy” questions.
YouTube says that the copyright check takes just a few minutes, while the ad’s adequacy checks take longer to complete. It’s best to post the video after the checks have been made, but users can post videos while the checks are still running and check them later.
Once the verification process is complete, you will see green check marks if it passes, or yellow / red alerts if there is a problem with your video.
Don’t worry if you get an alert – these are preventive notifications so you can resolve issues before a video goes public. Claims against you do not take effect until the video is posted, so be sure to edit your video or dispute the claim to avoid demonetization, blocked or removed videos, and other copyright claims that could harm your channel.
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What to do if you receive a copyright or ad fitness alert
Copyright alerts
For copyright claims, you can:
- Use YouTube Studio’s built-in editing tools to trim, mute, or replace the flagged portion of the video.
- Edit and re-editupload a new version of the video with the copyrighted section removed.
- Dispute the claim. If you do, ad revenue will be retained until the dispute is resolved.
- Publish the video without addressing the issues. This can affect your visibility and any advertising revenue will go to the rights holder if you do not correct or dispute the claim. In some cases, videos may be blocked if copyright claims are serious enough and are not addressed.
Ad fitness alerts
If your video is flagged with an ad fitness alert, you can update the video and / or its metadata to fix the issue or dispute the claim.
From YouTube official ad posting includes guidelines for updating metadata and editing the content of your video to resolve ad adequacy issues.
If you choose to dispute the ad suitability alert, a real person will review your video in accordance with YouTube’s ad suitability policies and email you as soon as a verdict is reached. This may take several days to complete.
It’s important to note that videos are only checked for possible Content ID claims during the initial upload. Manual copyright strikes can still occur after a video has been posted, and future ad adequacy issues will be possible if changes to YouTube’s ad policies make your metadata out of date. Still, YouTube hopes the new Checks will make Content ID claims easier to handle.