Someone reuploaded my video on YouTube
YouTube takes copyright complaints through its own removal request, filed from a signed-in Google account. It works well on a straight reupload. It is the wrong tool for a video that uses a few seconds of yours to talk about it, and a request filed there can come back on you.
First, is it a reupload or a reaction?
The removal request is for copies. Your whole video posted to another channel, the same footage cut into shorts, a compilation built out of your clips with nothing added: these are what the process exists for.
A video that shows part of yours in order to comment on it, criticize it, review it or parody it is a different matter. That may well be fair use, and Lenz v. Universal requires a rights holder to consider fair use before filing. The questions to ask are how much of your video they used, whether they added anything of their own, and whether someone could watch theirs instead of yours.
Your full video on another channel
A clear case for a removal request
Your video split into shorts or clips, nothing added
A clear case, one link per clip
Your footage with their voice-over reading your script
Usually still your work; worth filing
A reaction video playing all of yours with brief comments
Arguable. Depends on how much they add
A review using short clips to make a point
Likely fair use. Do not file
A video on the same topic, made by them
Not a copy. Copyright does not cover the idea
How to file a removal request
- 1
Collect every link
Each reupload needs its own video URL. YouTube does not accept a request against a whole channel or playlist, because a request has to identify the specific material. If the same channel has posted ten of your videos, that is ten links.
- 2
Note your original
The URL of your video on your channel, and the date it was published. If the reupload is a cut-down version, note the timestamps that match.
- 3
Open the request
In YouTube Studio, choose Content detection in the left menu and then New removal request. YouTube also accepts the same details in the body of an email to [email protected], or by fax or post, but Studio keeps the request and its status in one place.
- 4
Fill in the legal parts
Contact details, a description of your work, the infringing URLs, a good-faith statement and a statement of accuracy under penalty of perjury. The signature is the full legal name of the owner or of the representative filing for them.
- 5
Choose when it takes effect
You can ask for removal straight away, or schedule it for seven days later. See below; this choice matters more than it looks.
If you have the Copyright Match Tool
Removal now, or in seven days
A successful removal request puts a copyright strike on the uploader's channel. YouTube's help pages say that a channel with three strikes in 90 days is subject to termination.
The scheduled option gives the uploader seven days to delete the video themselves. If they do, the video is gone and no strike is applied. After the seven days, the removal goes ahead and deleting it no longer avoids the strike.
Which to choose is your call, and it is a judgment about the person rather than the law. A small channel that reposted your video without thinking may take it down when given the chance. A channel built on other people's uploads will not, and the strike is the part that eventually stops it. We ask you before filing, rather than choosing for you.
What the uploader sees
Your name is displayed in place of the removed video, as the party that claimed it. The uploader can also ask YouTube for the claimant's name, email, legal name and the description of the work. Your address and phone number stay confidential. If we file as your agent, the claimant shown is still you, the rights holder; decide whether that should be your own name or your business's before the request goes in.
After the request
YouTube may come back for more information if a request looks incomplete. If it removes the video, the uploader can file a counter-notification. Under the statute the video can then return after 10 to 14 business days unless you show that you have started a court action. You can also retract a request, from YouTube Studio or by email from the original claimant, if you settle it another way.
A removal on YouTube does nothing anywhere else. The same video on TikTok, Instagram, Facebook or a website is a separate notice through a separate route, and a YouTube video that ranks in Google Search is a separate request again: Google treats Search and YouTube as different products, one report each.
When it is worth handing over
One reupload on one channel is a ten-minute job you can do yourself. It stops being one when the same video is on six channels and three other platforms, when a channel keeps uploading more, or when you would rather not have your own name sitting where the video used to be. Open a case, paste the links, and you will see each one priced before anything is filed.
Last reviewed November 2, 2026. This is general information about a US statute, not legal advice, and we are not a law firm.
What people ask next
Is a removal request the same as a Content ID claim?
No. Content ID is an automated matching system for eligible rights holders that can block, track or monetize matching videos. A removal request is a legal notice that takes the video down and can lead to a strike. They are different tools with different consequences.
Can I get the money the reupload earned?
Not through a removal request. It removes the video. Recovering money is a legal claim, which is a job for a lawyer.
They reuploaded it with my watermark cropped out. Does that change anything?
It does not make it theirs. Removing copyright management information can be a separate violation under 17 U.S.C. § 1202, which is worth mentioning to a lawyer if you go further.
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Free to start · you approve every copy
Point us at the copy.
Scan your website for copies of your text and photos, or open a case with the link to anything else. You see exactly what we would file before we file it.
Not a website? Open a case instead