YouTube to remove 100,000 Viacom clips

Viacom is apparently tired of waiting for YouTube to remove copyrighted clips from the online video source. They have demanded that 100,000 clips be removed from their site and YouTube is complying.

by Kristina Knight

The clips have accounted for more than 1 billion video streams.

According to Viacom, YouTube and parent-company Google have not followed through on providing content filters that allow the copyright holders of videos to know when clips have been uploaded to the YouTube site. Their original request, made several months ago, included clips from Comedy Central and a few other shows. Their Friday demand is all-encompassing. Viacom wants all clips from all of their shows, including video from MTV, VH1 and Nickelodeon.

YouTube said in a statement (via MarketingVOX), "It's unfortunate that Viacom will no longer be able to benefit from YouTube's passionate audience which has helped to promote many of Viacom's shows."

According to YouTube founders, they are working on a kind of audio fingerprinting that will automatically identify clips. Once the clips are identified, copyright holders would presumably be notified, however the technology has not been released. When Google purchased YouTube last year many industry experts thought the problem of improperly uploaded videos would halt, but so far that hasn't happened.