YouTube's Content ID system is widely known to be broken. Online scammers abuse its automatic detection, affecting legitimate creators in countless ways. Sometimes, though, the manipulation leads to truly ridiculous situations, like what happened to streamer "Albino" recently: one of his videos got a copyright flag because of the song Samsung washing machines play to announce the end of their washing cycle...

You have to be careful with what you upload to YouTube. Your intentions may be the best, but if the background algorithm "hears" something it doesn't like, you'll end up with a copyright claim. The situation is much worse for streamers who broadcast live (either on YouTube or by reuploading their Twitch content). Live sessions give rise to all sorts of unexpected situations, and that's how we get to streamer "Albino", who recently suffered the wrath of Content ID... because of a Samsung washing machine and a scammer.

A Samsung washing machine, copyright fakes, and an out-of-control Content ID

The story begins with a six-hour stream where Albino plays Fallout: New Vegas, which was demonetized by a Content ID hit at 51:57. Apparently, that hit coincides with a song called "Done" by a supposed artist identified as "Audego". If you visit the link to that song (video below), you actually find the alert that Samsung washing machines play when they finish their washing cycle.

Now, Audego never created a song called "Done". The washing machine's jingle is actually "Die Forelle" by Schubert, and it's in the public domain. What Audego did, in Albino's own words, was "record his f*cking washing machine" and upload the recording to YouTube with Content ID. The worst part? The fake song has been online for almost a decade (January 20, 2015), and YouTube did absolutely nothing.

The platform's response was exactly what you'd expect: first it shared a super-generic comment, then it confirmed that Audego's copyright claim was invalid. But the real problem is that YouTube has no interest in optimizing Content ID (that would create new conflicts with rights holders), and in a way, it seeks to penalize the dispute process, further frustrating content creators.

In short, with Content ID, not even washing machines are safe...

Sources:Ars Technica, Dexerto