YouTube WTF!! Freedom's own Royalty Free Footage Got Me A Copyright Strike and Monetization Disabled!!

[MickeyMickey Motionz]

I used footage from Reuters that is under the Royalty Free videos tab on the freedom dashboard and I got a copyright world wide block on the video.I followed all the steps to use the footage but I still got a strike from Formula One.

Formula One Management are very strict and usually give copyright strikes for using there footage. But the Reuters provide F1 footage on the Freedom Dashboard so that means legally I should be allowed to use it. The video was well edited which therefore there should be no copyright claim. Freedom support acknowledged this (Case ID:165499)

I reuploaded the video to facebook so you can see for your self, how much work we put into this video.

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=582349468556579

I contacted Freedom every week for 4 months and they never resolved my issue. I got fed up and left Freedom network because the only reason why I wanted to join Freedom Network was to be able to use the Royalty Free F1 footage.

To make matters worse, I was unaware that a world wide block on a video could cause monetisation to be disabled if you a leave a network. So I was then left with the decision to abandon my channel that I had worked really hard on reaching 5000 subscribers.

This is just a warning to anyone not to use any royalty free material that Freedom provides because they are not willing to help you if you come across any copyright issues. At this point, I feel that I have to make a video warning others because i don't think this forum post will do enough to spread awareness. I've noticed many other people who came across the same issue and still don't have this issue resolved.

Any staff that is willing to resolve this issue, I will be very grateful but if you can't help don't bother messaging me.

 

[AGUKHD]

I am a co-host on this show. I must say I am absolutely gutted that we have to go through this situation. All we want to do is to make F1 news and have a bit of fun but these issues noted above have ruined any chance for us to grow and make a success... Cheers Freedom....

 

[LW]

Hey,

As a person having gotten rid of several claims and helped people get rid of strikes I really want to be able to solve this for you. Could you tell me what video it was that you took from the Dashboard and who issued the strike? Also hence you contacted Freedom support, what did they tell you?

Sorry to hear you are having that severe issues...

Edit: I have looked at the video just to check. The issue may have been the exact usage of the content in question and it's pretty 50/50 as to whether it's under Fair Use. This may also be why it's a strike and not just a claim...

 

[zeke morgan]

I'm sorry to hear that this happened to you. Especially seeing, as from reading your post above you tried, and did everything correct in order for this claim to be removed.

Unfortunately Freedom is very limited to what it can do regarding copyright, while you did everything that you were able and Freedom "acknowledged" that there shouldn't be any copyright issues with the footage, due to it being provided by Reuters - it could have been that F1 didn't accept this under their "fair use". Now I'm not sure that is what happened and I can very understandably see why you are annoyed about this. What exactly did Freedom say about this in your case ID - 165499 ?

Also the monetisation block shouldn't of been enacted just because you left the network, did you receive any information via email or have any notifications on your channel about why this monetisation block was enacted? Regarding your messaging the Freedom support team every week for 4 months, was this all via the same "ticket" or were you submitting multiple tickets about the issue?

 

[MickeyMickey Motionz]

Hey,

As a person having gotten rid of several claims and helped people get rid of strikes I really want to be able to solve this for you. Could you tell me what video it was that you took from the Dashboard and who issued the strike? Also hence you contacted Freedom support, what did they tell you?

Sorry to hear you are having that severe issues...

Edit: I have looked at the video just to check. The issue may have been the exact usage of the content in question and it's pretty 50/50 as to whether it's under Fair Use. This may also be why it's a strike and not just a claim...

The video is heavily edited and I followed the rules that were on forums and on the dashboard. I even asked support that about my concerns before I even made the video because FOM are really strict.

I can't check which royalty free video it was because I'm no longer partnered.

The global block was by FOM (Formula One Management), eitherway that can't be resolved now as google staff recommended me to remove the video. This is due to monetization being disabled on my channel so that after 3 months I can get my monetization back. This process has also been a nightmare because its been three months and google are still investigating. Here is the latest thread I made on google:

https://productforums.google.com/fo...=footer#!msg/youtube/w6cCcwfcVbY/0d1W5k58DgAJ

All comments on two of my cases were removed for some reason #182725, #173959. But #172060 is still there with several comments missing for some reason. Probably due to the update of the support website. I seem to have other cases missing as well which is probably because I had a support page linked to a google account and twitter account.

Basically what I need with now is to get monetization back and if Freedom have resolved the Reuters Royalty Free content issues then I will 100% sign up a Freedom partnership again.

 

[MickeyMickey Motionz]

I'm sorry to hear that this happened to you. Especially seeing, as from reading your post above you tried, and did everything correct in order for this claim to be removed.

Unfortunately Freedom is very limited to what it can do regarding copyright, while you did everything that you were able and Freedom "acknowledged" that there shouldn't be any copyright issues with the footage, due to it being provided by Reuters - it could have been that F1 didn't accept this under their "fair use". Now I'm not sure that is what happened and I can very understandably see why you are annoyed about this. What exactly did Freedom say about this in your case ID - 165499 ?

Also the monetisation block shouldn't of been enacted just because you left the network, did you receive any information via email or have any notifications on your channel about why this monetisation block was enacted? Regarding your messaging the Freedom support team every week for 4 months, was this all via the same "ticket" or were you submitting multiple tickets about the issue?

I waited 4 months for Freedom to contact Formula One Management, I provided them phone numbers, emails and fax and even a contact address if I'm not mistaken. But nothing was done. They said they were going to contact them but they never did. I know that for a fact because I emailed them to remove a false copyright strike by them a more than a year ago. I was also able to call them but I thought it wasn't my place to try and deal with this issue as it is a problem that has to be dealt with Freedom and Reuters.

No email was sent by Youtube about the monetization being disabled which was quite bizarre. In fact I did not have any issues for a long time until I decided to leave Freedom. Google then told me that even though my account was in good standing and that there were no strikes. The global block on that video triggered the monetization to be disabled as soon as I had left the network.

 

[zeke morgan]

T

I waited 4 months for Freedom to contact Formula One Management, I provided them phone numbers, emails and fax and even a contact address if I'm not mistaken. But nothing was done. They said they were going to contact them but they never did. I know that for a fact because I emailed them to remove a false copyright strike by them a more than a year ago. I was also able to call them but I thought it wasn't my place to try and deal with this issue as it is a problem that has to be dealt with Freedom and Reuters.

No email was sent by Youtube about the monetization being disabled which was quite bizarre. In fact I did not have any issues for a long time until I decided to leave Freedom. Google then told me that even though my account was in good standing and that there were no strikes. The global block on that video triggered the monetization to be disabled as soon as I had left the network.

That is really strange, the first time I can say that I have heard something like this happening. I have referred this to our support team as well as the Forum team to see if they can't relook at this and try and get you some more answers. Again I do apologise that this has happened to you

 

[LW]

The video is heavily edited and I followed the rules that were on forums and on the dashboard. I even asked support that about my concerns before I even made the video because FOM are really strict.

I can't check which royalty free video it was because I'm no longer partnered.

The global block was by FOM (Formula One Management), eitherway that can't be resolved now as google staff recommended me to remove the video. This is due to monetization being disabled on my channel so that after 3 months I can get my monetization back. This process has also been a nightmare because its been three months and google are still investigating. Here is the latest thread I made on google:

https://productforums.google.com/forum/?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer#!msg/youtube/w6cCcwfcVbY/0d1W5k58DgAJ

All comments on two of my cases were removed for some reason #182725, #173959. But #172060 is still there with several comments missing for some reason. Probably due to the update of the support website. I seem to have other cases missing as well which is probably because I had a support page linked to a google account and twitter account.

Basically what I need with now is to get monetization back and if Freedom have resolved the Reuters Royalty Free content issues then I will 100% sign up a Freedom partnership again.

Okay. This is way more severe than I thought. Firstly, I trust you in having severely edited the video. I used to edit a ton too... Though editing a video a lot still does not make it Fair Use which in your case is pretty hard to defend.

As of the video deletion, whoever told you that was not from Google and really needs to study YouTube copyright... Deleting a video is the worst thing you can do, especially after a strike as it gives you no literal ability to dispute, question or appeal the strike whatsoever. It basically lets the claimant win... Though in your case there's nothing you can do anymore on this.

As of support removing tickets, they automatically merge tickets to get rid of duplicates. Worst part about that is that each time they merge a ticket it gets pushed all the way to the bottom of the queue as that's how support ticketing works.[DOUBLEPOST=1486506844][/DOUBLEPOST]

I waited 4 months for Freedom to contact Formula One Management, I provided them phone numbers, emails and fax and even a contact address if I'm not mistaken. But nothing was done. They said they were going to contact them but they never did. I know that for a fact because I emailed them to remove a false copyright strike by them a more than a year ago. I was also able to call them but I thought it wasn't my place to try and deal with this issue as it is a problem that has to be dealt with Freedom and Reuters.

No email was sent by Youtube about the monetization being disabled which was quite bizarre. In fact I did not have any issues for a long time until I decided to leave Freedom. Google then told me that even though my account was in good standing and that there were no strikes. The global block on that video triggered the monetization to be disabled as soon as I had left the network.

Okay. Just a few things from this post: It now doesn't seem like a normal monetisation issue on the channel but instead on ADSENSE. This would also explain why you could monetise through Freedom but couldn't after leaving. In that case YouTube won't send out emails either.

 

[MickeyMickey Motionz]

When you leave a network even if you have a simple third party claim unt

Okay. This is way more severe than I thought. Firstly, I trust you in having severely edited the video. I used to edit a ton too... Though editing a video a lot still does not make it Fair Use which in your case is pretty hard to defend.

As of the video deletion, whoever told you that was not from Google and really needs to study YouTube copyright... Deleting a video is the worst thing you can do, especially after a strike as it gives you no literal ability to dispute, question or appeal the strike whatsoever. It basically lets the claimant win... Though in your case there's nothing you can do anymore on this.

As of support removing tickets, they automatically merge tickets to get rid of duplicates. Worst part about that is that each time they merge a ticket it gets pushed all the way to the bottom of the queue as that's how support ticketing works.

In response to the support removing tickets that is fine, I have no issue with that and I fully understand.

Also, I did not use the full footage that was provided by Reuters ofcourse. Also before the video was uploaded I asked Freedom if it was fine they said it was fine and I then I asked again and showed them the reuploaded version on facebook and they said that was fine too. I don't know what else I could've done. There was voice over throughout the video, only certain clips of the footage was used and it was heavily edited in adobe after effects. If Freedom had an issue with it they would've mentioned that on the support ticket. What would've been your recommendation in terms of using Reuters footage because theres a few videos uploaded by Freedom and I used the exact rules, infact my content is a lot more safe then the examples that were used.

Moderator please make this smaller somehow ^^^

And in terms of deleting the video, it was the only way to get my monetization back. The 3 month penalty is only served once the video is removed. it sounds bizarre but this is the algorithm that Google is using. A quick search on the youtube monetization forums will tell you this.

You can use my thread is just one of many examples: https://productforums.google.com/fo...=footer#!msg/youtube/w6cCcwfcVbY/0d1W5k58DgAJ[DOUBLEPOST=1486507348][/DOUBLEPOST]

I've never use adsense on that account. I do have another channel that is linked with adsense but I don't see how that would affect anything?
What would you suggest if it was an adsense issue?

I don't think its an adsense issue because monetization is disabled due to copyright according to my dashboard on Youtube.

 

[LW]

Also, I did not use the full footage that was provided by Reuters ofcourse. Also before the video was uploaded I asked Freedom if it was fine they said it was fine and I then I asked again and showed them the reuploaded version on facebook and they said that was fine too. I don't know what else I could've done. There was voice over throughout the video, only certain clips of the footage was used and it was heavily edited in adobe after effects. If Freedom had an issue with it they would've mentioned that on the support ticket. What would've been your recommendation in terms of using Reuters footage because theres a few videos uploaded by Freedom and I used the exact rules, infact my content is a lot more safe then the examples that were used.

While I understand where Freedom was coming from I also understand where the claimant was coming from. In this case Fair Use is hard to say still as the video material in the video was fully what you took. In the Freedom central videos shown they have put only a small amount of these clips in there and the rest is someone talking about it without the footage only. But I don't fully want to get into Fair Use as I could write a novel on that you wouldn't want to read.

And in terms of deleting the video, it was the only way to get my monetization back. The 3 month penalty is only served once the video is removed. it sounds bizarre but this is the algorithm that Google is using. A quick search on the youtube monetization forums will tell you this.

Maybe it's AdSense's algorithm but from a digital rights perspective (Especially hence it being a false claim) that's like the worst thing to do in my eyes.

 

[MickeyMickey Motionz]

While I understand where Freedom was coming from I also understand where the claimant was coming from. In this case Fair Use is hard to say still as the video material in the video was fully what you took. In the Freedom central videos shown they have put only a small amount of these clips in there and the rest is someone talking about it without the footage only. But I don't fully want to get into Fair Use as I could write a novel on that you wouldn't want to read.

Maybe it's AdSense's algorithm but from a digital rights perspective (Especially hence it being a false claim) that's like the worst thing to do in my eyes.

Well obviously I would want the case to be resolved but Freedom did nothing for 4 months so it was the only option I had to deal with it my self by removing the video and just serve the three month penalty to get monetization back and get partnered with another network.

Nevertheless, the video is gone now so what I need done now is to get monetization enabled again on my channel so that I can partner with Freedom again. And 100% confirmation on the rules on what I should do to comply with fair use.

 

[LW]

I've never use adsense on that account. I do have another channel that is linked with adsense but I don't see how that would affect anything?
What would you suggest if it was an adsense issue?

I don't think its an adsense issue because monetization is disabled due to copyright according to my dashboard on Youtube.

That dashboard message is one out of many that's default and rarely correct. If it was an Adsense issue you'd still have to get rid of these claims but it would at least explain what happened to your monetisation.

Well obviously I would want the case to be resolved but Freedom did nothing for 4 months so it was the only option I had to deal with it my self by removing the video and just serve the three month penalty to get monetization back and get partnered with another network.

I fully understand that you just wanted to get rid of that. A few months ago I'd probably have done the same if I read it somewhere...
This is in my opinion the largest problem on YouTube against beginners. The copyright area is way too badly documented and there's no way to get help about that. In your case though if Freedom were to contact them now they couldn't be able to do anything. The video is gone. They couldn't reinstate it or help your account standing anymore.

 

[MickeyMickey Motionz]

That dashboard message is one out of many that's default and rarely correct. If it was an Adsense issue you'd still have to get rid of these claims but it would at least explain what happened to your monetisation.

I fully understand that you just wanted to get rid of that. A few months ago I'd probably have done the same if I read it somewhere...
This is in my opinion the largest problem on YouTube against beginners. The copyright area is way too badly documented and there's no way to get help about that. In your case though if Freedom were to contact them now they couldn't be able to do anything. The video is gone. They couldn't reinstate it or help your account standing anymore.

Yes obviously Freedom can't do nothing now that I deleted the video. But they never did anything for four months so ofcourse Freedom still wouldn't have contacted even I had kept the video up. Every week they made promises and if you look in the case they said that they had their legal team involved but it was obviously lies because nothing was done for four months.

But like I said now I just need Freedom to get my monetization back and tell me exactly what was wrong in that video. If you think that the editing I did wasn't enough for fair use then that means Freedom need to make an update on Youtube and on the dashboard with new rules because I followed everything in this video. I put my own spin on it I didn't use all of the footage, there was a voice over and a lot of editing.

Whatever is the advice you give me, Formula Management will still take the video down because they are known to be the strictest network on Youtube. And I would be stuck in the same place again because of Freedom not contacting Formula One Management and Reuters.

Also please forward this to support so that I can respond too.

 

[LW]

Yes obviously Freedom can't do nothing now that I deleted the video. But they never did anything for four months so ofcourse Freedom still wouldn't have contacted even I had kept the video up. Every week they made promises and if you look in the case they said that they had their legal team involved but it was obviously lies because nothing was done for four months.

But like I said now I just need Freedom to get my monetization back and tell me exactly what was wrong in that video. If you think that the editing I did wasn't enough for fair use then that means Freedom need to make an update on Youtube and on the dashboard with new rules because I followed everything in this video. I put my own spin on it I didn't use all of the footage, there was a voice over and a lot of editing.

Whatever is the advice you give me, Formula Management will still take the video down because they are known to be the strictest network on Youtube. And I would be stuck in the same place again because of Freedom not contacting Formula One Management and Reuters.

As of it not being a strike you should be able to regain monetisation by joining a network. Maybe even Freedom if you're able to get in there again.

Also there's worse than F1M...

 

[MickeyMickey Motionz]

As of it not being a strike you should be able to regain monetisation by joining a network. Maybe even Freedom if you're able to get in there again.

Also there's worse than F1M...

I can't join a network until monetization is enabled again, I know that because I tried to sign up with another network and I was unaware at the time that monetization was disabled. They then told me they couldn't partner me until that problem was resolved.

I'm stuck at this point which is why I need help getting monetization back.

 

[LW]

I can't join a network until monetization is enabled again, I know that because I tried to sign up with another network and I was unaware at the time that monetization was disabled. They then told me they couldn't partner me until that problem was resolved.

I'm stuck at this point which is why I need help getting monetization back.

I'll try doing some further research to this. I'll keep you posted here.

 

[MickeyMickey Motionz]

I'll try doing some further research to this. I'll keep you posted here.

Is there not a way fore Freedom to contact google staff and investigate the account because on the google forums thats what they do. They haven't done that with me yet because I can't prove when I deleted the video and the moderator is taking a long time to respond.

 

[LW]

Is there not a way fore Freedom to contact google staff and investigate the account because on the google forums thats what they do

It will likely be hard for Freedom to help you at all as you unlinked. They're not able to see your account anymore as the API unlinks your channel from the network as you leave. They aren't able to check what's happening to your account anymore so they also couldn't effectively ask anyone at YouTube or Google for help as they don't know what to ask really.

 

[MickeyMickey Motionz]

It will likely be hard for Freedom to help you at all as you unlinked. They're not able to see your account anymore as the API unlinks your channel from the network as you leave. They aren't able to check what's happening to your account anymore so they also couldn't effectively ask anyone at YouTube or Google for help as they don't know what to ask really.

Yes thats what I meant, so now that I have to wait for that issue to be resolved, what can be done in future for when I use the Reuters footage again?

 

[LW]

Yes thats what I meant, so now that I have to wait for that issue to be resolved, what can be done in future for when I use the Reuters footage again?

Well you should try going for more of a Fair Use approach that doesn't make the entire video content from Reuters. The less content you use by them the easier it is to actually turn it into a valid copyright dispute and getting rid of potential claims.