Youtube streaming and video channels have slowly become a lucrative source of income for the charismatic few who can captivate an audience with information from the mundane to the magnificent and back again. Unfortunately, it looks like YouTube is taking a systematic approach to stopping that. Youtube’s Content ID — an automated copyright-violation fighting bot — has been found routinely flagging thousands of game-related videos on a daily basis, regardless of copyright concerns.

Power channels like TheRadBrad, with 2 million subscribers, has found dozens of emails warning him of copyright violations. A lot of these violations are ofte unfounded and unverifiable — and yet, YouTube prevents the uploader from collecting ad revenue at the moment of a flag. This process has left many people who rely on YouTube has a primary source of income to suffer.

‘Many savvy YouTube uploaders rarely appeal a copyright claim because it’s a potential risk, especially when they’ve built a small business around producing and uploading YouTube videos.’

via VentureBeats