We now know how many videos were automatically moderated by YouTube’s Content ID platform in 2021. Hint: a lot.
Behind the name Content ID hides the YouTube platform capable of automatically identifying the illegitimate use of content protected by copyright. A powerful tool that is at the heart of 99% of reported and resolved copyright infringements. This may result in the removal or demonetization of videos moderated on this ground.
Since the end of 2021, the activity of Content ID has given rise to a transparency report, the second edition of which has just been published. Thanks to her, we now know the complete statistics for the year 2021 linked to the automatic moderation of this tool to which some 9,000 rights holders have access, and they are impressive.
Very precisely, 1,482,189,768 complaints were processed by Content ID in 2021, including 759.5 million in the second half (concerning 4,840 rights holders).
It is interesting to note that the rightholders who can use this platform, which are the largest on the market, are those whose content is most affected by violations. The public form for manually declaring a copyright infringement was used by more than 270,000 rights holders, for a number of complaints which is however considerably lower than that handled by Content ID (2 million requests, or 0.27% of the total).
If the automation of the system allows rapid interventions as well as substantial savings, it remains a potential source of errors and abusive moderations. As proof, over the last six months of 2021, YouTube had to manage 3.8 million conflicts relating to the moderation of content by Content ID. In 62% of cases, YouTubers contesting the automatic moderation of one of their videos by the system for copyright infringement emerged victorious.