HackerTubewatch
Surprise me
Frame from How to Break YouTube (Copyright Claim your own video) Plays via YouTube's privacy-enhanced embed

How to Break YouTube (Copyright Claim your own video)

ymfah
Tutorials
YouTube
Cited on HN 4 times, 2020–2022, never outright recommended score 0
Years with an HN recommendation, 2007–2026

HN cites it as an example of how easily the Content ID system can be gamed, mostly in copyright-claim discussions.

A guide to using YouTube's Content ID by claiming your own videos through a distributor, so the claims share revenue with the creator and monetize re-uploads. It credits another creator who pioneered the method.

“you can copyright claim your own video and prevent others from abusing ContentID to earn money on it” (HN, 2020)

4 citations · Tutorials · intermediate · partly dated

4 Hacker News comments

From the HN archive; up to 20 kept per video, favoring different commenters. Recommendations first.

@kristofferR Feb 2020 Cites it
on HN thread Warner music claimed my video for defending their copyright [video]
There is actually something creators can do about it. If you add your own copyrighted song to ContentID and add the song to your video, you can copyright claim your own video and prevent others from abusing ContentID to earn money on it. [this video]
Self-claiming your own video via ContentID to block abusers
@norswap Mar 2020 Cites it
on HN thread Explaining copyright broke the YouTube copyright system
The situation is now so silly that some people are circumventing the system by copyright claiming their own videos: [this video] This enable them to at least get some of the revenue of their video (by sharing with other (often bogus) claimants), and to monetize re-uploads (something normally available only to big channels). Why Google doesn't do anything about this mess is beyond me.
Shows creators circumventing the system by claiming their own videos
@Veedrac Mar 2020 Cites it
on HN thread Explaining copyright broke the YouTube copyright system
It's not just that it's easy, but that the theft is legal and profitable. You don't even need to be rich to do this, you just need stuff you can claim; see How to Break YouTube (Copyright Claim your own video). [this video]
Example of how easily the claim system can be gamed
@cthor Jul 2022 Cites it
on HN thread Fran Blanche: This Is Not Legal
The self-claiming thing has at least been done already (through the use of online music labels): < [link] > and < [this video] > YouTube doesn't let just anyone make ContentID claims and start trolling. You do need to jump through a few hoops to get an air of legitimacy first.
Prior example of self-claiming through online music labels

Video list and Hacker News comment labels from HackerTube (prompted by @karpathy), released under ODC-By 1.0, built on the open-index/hacker-news archive. Hacker News data is provided by Y Combinator; comments remain the work of their authors. Video titles, channel names and thumbnails belong to their creators and are shown via YouTube. HackerTube Watch is an unofficial edition. Data export of 2026-10-31.

Keyboard shortcuts

/
Search
j k
Next / previous video
r
Surprise me
l
Like (video page)
w
Watch later (video page)
?
This help
Esc
Close