UPDATED: This is no longer just a test, with YouTube officially rolling out Checks, as outlined in this post on YouTube Help.

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YouTube is a video-sharing service that allows just about anyone to create content and upload it for the world to see. While this is great, it also makes it easy for people to upload and share content that isn't actually theirs.

Google is well aware of stolen work on its service, and the company has taken all sorts of steps to combat it over the years. Most of the company's solutions happen after the content is uploaded and made public. However, according to XDA Developers, YouTube is testing a new feature that'll check a video for copyright violations before the video is actually made public, which could help prevent stolen videos from being used.

The issue with YouTube checking for copyright violations is that many content creators upload videos with infringements by accident. They put the content out on YouTube and receive a copyright strike against their channel. The system is far from perfect, and it looks like YouTube is aware that there's a problem and the company is attempting to fix it.

If YouTube ends up rolling out this pre-upload copyright check to all creators, it could help YouTubers realize they've made a copyright violation and fix it before the video ends up getting demonetized or removed.

Basically, it looks like YouTube runs the video through its Content ID process before it hits the website's servers, rather than after. Then the creator can edit out the flagged content and upload the video again without having any post-publication issues.

While this could be an improvement, it's not exactly a perfect system. Copyright owners can still find something in your video to flag manually after the video goes live, which would still be a strike against the channel. As Content ID is an algorithm, it can certainly make mistakes and miss content that it should have noticed.

When Will This Roll Out To Everyone?

At this time, YouTube is still testing this feature, so it could be some time before the company rolls it out to everyone. We tested uploading a video to our channel and didn't see the new copyright process, so it's definitely still coming to a very limited amount of channels. If you don't see it yet, you're definitely not alone.

Hopefully, it works out for YouTube and becomes a standard part of the YouTube upload routine, as it can make creating content a more streamlined process with fewer copyright strikes after the fact.