Wow, I discovered someone's impersonating my channel. They're stealing my views and revenue.
Here's the official Drost Video channel. Here is someone impersonating my channel. They're using
the same channel name, same channel banner, same picture, same thumbnails, same titles.
In this video, you'll learn what to do if someone is impersonating you on YouTube, stealing
your videos, thumbnails, and titles, and how to report their channel to YouTube for impersonation
so it gets taken down by YouTube. Later on, I'll share the results of what happened to the
impersonating channel. [music]
Here is YouTube's impersonation policy. Content intended to impersonate a person or channel
is not allowed on YouTube. Don't post content on YouTube if it's a channel that copies another
channel's profile, background, or overall look and feel in such a way that makes it look like
someone else's channel. The channel does not have to be 100% identical, as long as the
intent is clear to copy the other channel. Here's how to report a YouTube channel for
impersonation. Go to the YouTube channel. In this case, it's slackercowgirl. Click on the About
page, hover over the flag icon that says, "Report user." You'll see block user, report channel art,
report profile picture, report user. This impersonator is using my channel art,
profile picture, so I'm going to choose report user. Click Report user. I've got some options
here, harassment and bullying, privacy, impersonation, violent threats, child
endangerment, hate speech against a protected group, spam and scams, none of these are my issue.
I'm going to check impersonation. It says, "Impersonating another user by copying their
channel layout, using a similar username, or posing as them in comments, emails or videos."
Click the dropdown. It says, "Choose one. This channel is impersonating me. This channel is
impersonating someone else." I'm going to use, "This channel is impersonating me." Click Next.
Now you can make some additional notes. I'm going to add, "This person is impersonating my channel
art, profile picture, thumbnail images, videos content, and video titles." Click Submit. It says,
"Thanks. We've received your report. If we find this content to be in violation of our Community
Guidelines, we will remove it." Just keep in mind, I reported this channel for impersonation
several months ago and it wasn't taken down. I'll share with you later what else you can do.
Recently, I asked other creators in a Facebook group about what they did when someone was
impersonating their channel. Leroy Dickson said, "Keep reporting the videos for copyright. I've had
to have about 10 channels taken down to date. I've reported 110 videos. Dee Nimmin says, "Herman,
file takedown notices (strikes, not claims) strategically. If they get three within a 90-day
period, YouTube will terminate their channel. Send one notice every other day, one video at a time.
Make sure to choose to remove immediately and give them a strike. A claim won't resolve it."
Here's how to file a copyright takedown request for someone that's stealing your
videos or content. If the channel owner gets three takedown notices within a 90-day period,
YouTube will terminate their channel. Here's a word of warning. Don't make false claims
by misusing the takedown web form. If you submit false information, it may result in the suspension
of your YouTube account. So be careful. Click on the Copyright tab in YouTube Studio.
At the top, you'll see matches, removal requests, messages, and archive. You click on Filter,
then you get the videos with total views. Just put a value in there, or you could do a value of
subscribers. Just put the number of subscribers in there. I can see that this matching video has
got 2,400 views and it matches 100% of my video. Obviously, this video that's being stolen from
my own channel and uploaded to their channel is stealing views from my own channel. It needs to
be taken down. If I hover over the video, then I've got move to archive, request video removal,
or I can contact the channel. If I want to remove that, I just click the Request video removal.
At the top, you just got videos requested for removal. Remember that not all copyrighted content
is eligible for removal. Some videos are protected by fair use and similar laws. If that video had
just got a small snippet of your video, it could be qualified for fair use. Then, just fill out
your contact details on the copyright owner. The third section is removal options and agreements.
You have two options for removal timing. Number one is scheduled, where you send a seven-day
notice. Once the request is validated, YouTube gives the uploader seven days to remove the video
and avoid a copyright strike. If they don't, the video is removed in seven days.
The second option is standard removal, which means request removal now.
This removal leads to a copyright strike, and YouTube processes the video removal
after validating the request. Select Standard: Request removal now.
YouTube says they're also going to add another section to this form called
prevent copies of these videos from appearing on YouTube going forward. It says,
"If your takedown request is valid, YouTube will make its best effort to prevent new
uploads from appearing on the platform." After you've filled out the form, just click Submit.
If you don't see the copyright match tool link in your YouTube Studio,
then click the link in the description below this video. It'll be a link to the takedown web form.
I recommend submitting multiple takedown requests if the impersonating channel has
stolen multiple videos. Here are my results after submitting the takedown web form for someone
impersonating my channel and stealing my videos. It says, "This video is no longer available
because the YouTube account associated with this video has been terminated." If you've submitted
a copyright takedown request because someone has stolen your videos or is impersonating your
channel, just be patient because the videos or channel may not be removed immediately.
Here's how to check your copyright matches using the copyright match tool in YouTube Studio.
Click on Copyright, then click on Matches. Under matching videos,
it shows the names of all the videos that have used your content. The second line shows
which video of yours the content came from. Under total views, it shows how many times real viewers
have watched the matching video. That means a person who is impersonating your channel
could be stealing your views and also stealing your revenue.
The date shows when the matching video was published or uploaded. Under channel,
it shows the name of the channel that uploaded the matching video and how many YouTube subscribers
that channel has. Under frames, it shows the thumbnails for the matching video.
Here's something to keep in mind. Sometimes people make false copyright claims on YouTube content.
Watch the video on the screen right now on how to remove copyright claims on YouTube.
You'll learn about the new tools you can use within YouTube to remove the copyright claims.