Universal Music Group has a team dedicated to eroding fair use rights

Universal Media Group (UMG) is alleged to have hired a professional team dedicated to making nuisance complaints on YouTube against fair uses of material from the UMG music catalog.^{[citation needed]} This severely impacts consumer rights because it makes it very difficult for consumers to take action against the company's unfair practice.

In the United States the right of "fair use" allows people to make use of copyrighted works in certain limited ways.^{[citation needed]} For example, using a short excerpt of a copyright-protected song as part of a YouTube video reviewing the song, providing history or other context, or transforming the song creatively into something new.

YouTube has an automated system intended to allow copyright owners to collect royalties when their work is used by other people in videos. This system evidently does not recognize fair use rights.^{[citation needed]} According to many anecdotes, YouTube's adjudication of conflicts cannot be appealed and YouTube often decides in favor of the copyright holder regardless of the merits of the fair use situation.^{[citation needed]}

On August 5 2025, YouTuber Professor of Rock reported an intensifying campaign of harassing copyright claims and abusive use of YouTube's systems to protect intellectual property. Even the briefest clips, used in journalistic contexts, were being continuously flagged.^[1]

Over the following days, Professor of Rock posts confirmed that the campaign was still underway. He began retitling his journalistic videos with names reflecting the copyright claims against them, such as "Well...Watch It While You Can Because DUE to CLAIMS It Won't Be Up For Long" (Archived).

Rick Beato, another prominent YouTuber, shared in a video that he has been the target of a campaign of copyright claims and alleged harassment from Universal Music Group.^[2] Beato reported that he has had to retain an attorney dedicated to fighting claims made by Universal Music Group and others against his channel.

Just today, I open up my email ... these are all copyright claims that just came in or content ID claims. So, they start at 10:04 [p.m.] and then the next one's at 10:04p.m. The next one's at 10:04 [p.m.], then 1:18p.m., then 1:33 p.m., then 201 p.m., 2:16 p.m., 218 p.m., 2:20 p.m., 2:21p.m., 2:29 p.m., 2:30, 2:32. Those emails are all in a row. That's how many I got just between 1:30 and 2:30, all those content ID claims from videos that are all fair use.

... I've hired a lawyer full-time because it takes it's a full-time job. I've had probably 4,000 claims over the last nine years from things that are fair use where I'm discussing songs.

... But we have successfully fought thousands of these now, but it literally cost me so much money to do this since we've been fighting these things and never lost one.

... What do I have to do here? I'm sorry to come on and complain, but Universal, it's honestly, they're all Universal Music Group, so they obviously have hired some third-party company that are dredging up things. They're looking for things that haven't been claimed in the past. They're taking videos from seven, eight years ago. Give it a rest. My god. Now, if I didn't fight these three claims, my channel will get taken down with my 2,000 videos.

Other videos were soon posted to call attention to this issue:

• Ministry of Guitar: "The Real Reason Rick Beato keeps getting into trouble"
• Brodie Robertson: "YouTube Has Some Explaining To Do" (Archived)
• El Estepario Siberiano: "THEY WANT TO TAKE RICK BEATO DOWN!" (Archived)