YouTube is playing a dangerous game with some of its most prolific content creators.

No, I don’t mean YouTube Red, Google’s attempt to further capitalize on the success of YouTube content by offering ad-free subscriptions.

I mean YouTube’s incompetent copyright system, which not only halts a creator’s ability to make a profit off their videos, but also allows claimants to actively steal that profit from the YouTuber.

This has been happening for some time now. But it wasn’t until some big name movie review YouTubers, such as Channel Awesome and I Hate Everything, began to speak out about the issues in earnest back in February that the rest of the world really caught on.

Possibly the easiest way to distinguish fair use from copyright infringement is with reviews. If you’ve ever seen a film reviewed on YouTube, you might know what I’m talking about.

On YouTube, however, film reviewers are having to slog through copyright claims almost every day.

YouTube’s current Content ID system is mostly to blame.

Content ID is a mostly automated system that seeks out use of copyrighted material on YouTube and sends copyright claims to those videos.

It should be a force for good, to be used against nefarious YouTubers who upload entire films, music videos or TV shows illegally.

Instead, the system continues to be abused in a way that hurts YouTubers immensely.

The system makes it so a copyright owner can file a strike or a claim against a specific video that has supposedly infringed on their copyright.

A claim is automatically sent from the Content ID system or manually sent by the copyright holder. While the copyright holder claims the copyright to the video, they can either choose to block the video or funnel all the ad-revenue the video is making to themselves.

This means that in the instance of a wrongful claim, where the video actually isn’t infringement, the copyright holder is actively engaging in the theft of profits from the YouTuber’s copyrighted work.

The YouTuber can appeal the claim, but even if they win the appeal, the copyright holder can just re-file the claim and begin the process all over again.

A film studio could file as many claims as it wanted, all across YouTube, with no accountability falling on them if a claim turns out to be wrong.

With the system as it is, with no liability for whether their claim of copyright infringement is accurate or not, there’s no real reason for copyright holders to not game the system.

As it stands, they can have videos taken down or even take the ad-revenue from them, thereby stopping a YouTuber’s income, with no responsibility to prove that copyright infringement is actually taking place.

With the system so broken it’s a wonder to some that YouTube hasn’t changed its policies to better protect their stars, YouTubers who bring in revenue with every video they upload.

It’s no skin off YouTube’s nose if a few YouTubers don’t earn ad revenue off of their work, because in the end, YouTube is still making money off of them.

Without a truly competitive service to YouTube out there that YouTube creators can jump ship to, it will be hard for YouTubers to make a point and truly catch YouTube’s attention.

Financially, anyway.

Channel Awesome, one of the channels that has spoken out about YouTube’s policies and the rampart abuse therein, has started the campaign #WTFU (Where’s the Fair Use?) to ensure YouTube’s top brass notices the plight of YouTubers, and hopefully fixes it.