YouTube Cracks Down on Channels Profiting From Fake Movie Trailers

Publishing AI-generated fake movie trailers on YouTube won’t make you money anymore. 

As Deadline reports, the video streaming platform has begun a crackdown on such creators, removing them from its Partner Program and stripping them of the opportunity to make ad revenue. 

The latest action comes against Screen Trailers and Royal Trailers, channels that publish AI-generated trailers of popular Hollywood titles. These channels are managed by the creators of Screen Culture and KH Studio, which were also removed from the Partner Program in March, the report adds. 

“Our enforcement decisions, including suspensions from the YouTube partner program, apply to all channels that may be owned or operated by the impacted creator,” YouTube tells Deadline.

Fake movie trailer channels often imitate visual elements used by studios in their original trailers, misleading users to believe their work is from an authentic source. YouTube’s monetization policies include strict guidelines against such practices. 

“If you borrow content from someone else, you need to change it significantly to make it your own,” YouTube says in the advisory, adding that “your content should be made for the enjoyment or education of viewers, rather than for the sole purpose of getting views.”

Per an earlier Deadline report, major studios aren’t against fake trailers. Instead of enforcing copyright, studios have taken a share of the ad revenue. For instance, Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) claimed monetization on Screen Culture’s fake trailers for Superman and House of the Dragon, and Sony Pictures made money from fake trailers for Spider-Man and Kraven The Hunter. 

Nikhil Chaudhari, who launched Screen Culture in 2018, believes that his fake trailers help promote movies, which is probably why studios took a cut of the revenue instead of blocking them. Now that YouTube has blocked this income stream, it’ll be interesting to see what stance studios take against such videos.

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About Jibin Joseph

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Jibin is a tech news writer based out of Ahmedabad, India. Previously, he served as the editor of iGeeksBlog and is a self-proclaimed tech enthusiast who loves breaking down complex information for a broader audience.

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