YouTube Apologizes For Tweeting Somebody Else's Video

YouTube's controversial year-end 'Rewind' video has become 'the most-loathed video in the entire history of YouTube,' reports Inc., adding that with 14 million down votes, it now 'might just be the most-hated video anybody ever posted anywhere.'
'But then came Christmas Day, and YouTube apparently managed to top its own blunder.'
How? By uploading a promo video wishing viewers a Merry Christmas on Twitter. The problem: YouTube allegedly didn't own the video. Instead, it copied a YouTube user's video and reposted it as its own, without so much as offering credit....The only real difference between the version of video that YouTuber Lily Hevesh created and uploaded to YouTube, and the one that YouTube reportedly passed off as its own work in a post on Twitter is that YouTube's version on Twitter skipped the opening 20 seconds. That would be the part in which Hevesh, who describes herself as a 'domino artist,' shared her logo and a short clip of herself setting up the dominoes.
Hevesh caught what YouTube had apparently done about 14 hours after the post, and tweeted a response: 'Very glad to see that my Christmas domino e-card is getting good use. However, I'm a bit disappointed that YouTube would take my video and re-upload it with absolutely no credit. People rip off my work everyday and it's honestly saddening to see this happen by YouTube itself....' Even if money weren't involved, YouTube's own terms of service and copyright page seem to ban exactly what it looks like was done here. It's a mess.
In the end, YouTube owned up to its mistake -- well, partway anyway. It tweeted a follow-up on the day after Christmas, acknowledging that they 'forgot to credit @Hevesh5 for this video!' and linking to Hevesh's YouTube page.

The Verge points out that YouTube 'does own a limited license to people's videos, so legally, the company can take Hevesh's content and upload it to its Twitter account. The problem is ethical....
'Reuploading video while stripping credit is a practice that YouTube explicitly condemns. YouTube's community guidelines and policy page specifically states that creators should only 'upload videos that you made or that you're authorized to use.''

Read more of this story at Slashdot.