[6][7] Organizations including Viacom, Mediaset, and the English Premier League have filed lawsuits against YouTube, claiming that it has done too little to prevent the uploading of copyrighted material.
The decision was criticized by the Electronic Frontier Foundation, which called the court ruling "a setback to privacy rights".
[16] In August 2008, a US court ruled in Lenz v. Universal Music Corp. that copyright holders cannot order the removal of an online file without first determining whether the posting reflected fair use of the material.
[19] In April 2012, a court in Hamburg ruled that YouTube could be held responsible for copyrighted material posted by its users.
The performance rights organization GEMA argued that YouTube had not done enough to prevent the uploading of German copyrighted music.
[22][23] YouTube's owner Google announced in November 2015 that they would help cover the legal cost in select cases where they believe fair use defenses apply.
[24] At the end of 2013, YouTube enabled automated Content ID claiming on videos uploaded by users who were signed with multi-channel networks (MCN).
[25] Previously, videos uploaded to channels that were linked to MCNs could only be claimed manually or removed with a DMCA takedown.
This led to a large number of new claims which suddenly left uploaders unable to place advertisements on their videos until they disputed.
[33] Videos continued to be removed and flagged on the site when copyright claims were made against uploaders for using the alleged use of protected material.
Sterling stated that this was indicative of a poorly designed system on YouTube's part, as a video which was well within the bounds of fair use had attracted three copyright claims.
The Kleins later uploaded a video where they announced that any funds from the fundraiser left over from their lawsuit would be entrusted in to a 'Fair Use Protection Account', which other users could request assistance from in the event they were sued for copyright infringement.
Kenzo, a channel with 60000 subscribers, said that VengefulFlame also messaged him to tell him to pay $600 or $400 worth of bitcoin and said they were paid by someone else to strike him.
In January 2020, Jukin Media has been criticized for extorting YouTubers MxR and Potastic Panda, asking $6,000 for copyright infringement.
Liang expressed concern in a video posted on January 13, 2020, that the pair were being "extorted" and could lose their channel if Jukin Media contacted Google with all four claims at once, as this could potentially break YouTube's "three strikes" rule.