YouTube gives the boot to Partners who post ‘duplicative content’

If you’re a YouTube Partner uploading someone else’s work, beware. YouTube is checking in on you and might revoke your Partner privileges.

In a post on the company’s official help forum, YouTube announced that it’s doubling down on efforts to curb abuse within the YouTube Partner Program. Specifically, a YouTube spokesperson outlined in the post that it’s cracking down on a policy regarding channels posting “duplicative content.”

YouTube describes the type of content in violation of its policies as: 

• Appearing to be automatically generated.

• Pulled from third party sources with no content or narrative added by the creator.

• Uploaded many times by multiple users and you’re not the original uploader.

• Uploaded in a way that is trying to get around our copyright tools.

If you’re a YouTube Creator who wants to monetize your content, you must qualify for the YouTube Partner Program. However, channels already accepted into the Partner Program aren’t automatically in the clear. As YouTube outlines in the post, “all YouTube Partner Program participants (both new and existing) are being carefully reviewed on a regular basis to ensure they meet the program policies.”

The most interesting thing here is that the type of content YouTube is cracking down on isn’t even necessarily based on copyright issues. In fact, YouTube explicitly says that “even if you have licenses to use the content or your videos are protected by copyright laws, such as fair use,” you can still be removed from the Partner Program for uploading content to your channel that you don’t add to. With this, YouTube is effectively doing some quality control.

Some examples YouTube provided as to how channels can add to repurposed content include “significant original commentary, educational value, narrative, or high quality editing.”

YouTube Partners removed for duplication can either remove or update their videos so that all of the channel’s content complies with the program’s’ policies. After doing so, YouTube says they can reapply for the program in 30 days. For all those still under YouTube Partner review, the company is hoping to make those decisions by the end of the year.

There’s been some confusion online over whether channels with duplicative content were being completely removed from YouTube. Mashable has confirmed with the company that duplicative content only violates YouTube Partner Program policies. Duplication is not a violation of YouTube’s overall community guidelines, so users uploading this type of content are fine — they just can’t monetize their channel.

Earlier this year, YouTube sparked some controversy within the Creator world by changing its requirements for Partner eligibility. Channels are now required to have at least 1,000 subscribers and at least 4,000 viewed hours over the past 12 months to be reviewed. With this latest update, YouTube is making it clear that it’s only looking for original content to share its revenue with.