Bootlegging YouTube Videos: Another Money Making Scam

For years, individuals uploaded videos to YouTube, without the ability to make money. However, in recent years, Google (which owns YouTube) has made it a priority to sell ad space on YouTube videos that have reached a specific number of hits. Once a video receives a certain number of hits, ads and other watermarks are placed on the videos.

Each time someone watches the videos, both Google and the individual who uploaded the video receive money from the ads placed on the website. However, there is no copyright placed on the video, as individuals upload the content at their own risk and share the videos with the rest of the world. This is where trouble begins, as it is not legal to steal the videos and other information people are uploading.


A Russian company has started to take videos that other individuals have uploaded onto YouTube that are generating hundreds of thousands of hits, and started uploading the content under their own username. This not only takes hits away from individuals that are uploading the content, but it also takes away revenue, as the adds are also placed on the Russian company’s “borrowed” video clips. Essentially, the company is now making money for not creating anything, and sadly enough, it is completely legal, at least for the time being.


Because individuals are uploading content and signing off, stating that there are no copyright protection for this content, anyone is able to borrow the videos and do what they want with them. The videos can be shared through social media websites and other services without someone requesting permission, so technically, there isn’t anything wrong with what they are doing. Just don’t tell this to the individual’s who’s content and material they are stealing.


There is a considerable amount of money out there redirected from the people who are actually making these videos. Many of the individuals who have lost hits, views and revenue regarding the situation are extremely mad, and what the situation resolved. Google is currently looking into the situation to see what it can do about it.


Google wants to still allow individuals to link to YouTube videos and other options, but they want to stop individuals from copying the content. The only problem is that Google might have to stop both in order to prevent this from occurring, and if this is the case, Google isn’t going to do it, as it makes too much revenue off of backlinks generated from people copying the links on their social media website.

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