Well, this is basically how DMCA takedown requests (as opposed to YouTube copyright claims, which are not legally binding, and the strikes system) work, though—

Well, this is basically how DMCA takedown requests (as opposed to YouTube copyright claims, which are not legally binding, and the strikes system) work, though—YouTube definitely does have to process legitimate DMCA takedowns unless they want to be liable. It would be noble if they decided to preemptively take the potential liability of frivelous takedowns against ostencibly fair use videos, but the entire reason why the current copyright claim/strike (NOT DMCA takedowns, mind you) and content ID system exists was to quell the lawsuits from IP owners. This is the real reason for the copyright strike system that can shut down channels. YouTube is broken, yes... But the law is broken much more. And lest you think the U.S. laws are draconian, Japanese law surrounding copyright is significantly worse. I remember a lot of streamers who once streamed on YouTube moved to Twitch, often citing the fear of copyright claims (and lack of communication about such issues) as their primary motivators. This includes some pretty large YouTubers, like probably most notably moistcr1tikal. Twitch had more lax policies, especially about streaming copyrighted music, whereas YouTube pretty much treated stream VODs the way they treated videos. Lo and behold, not more than a couple years later, Twitch has its own copyright panic, specifically involving the use of music on streams. For all of YouTube's failures, you're going to see all of the same crap anywhere that competes with them, pretty much. Google may be horrible at PR, support, etc. but I think the biggest complaints about YouTube are difficult to avoid. That doesn't mean we shouldn't have more competitors in the space, but I also do not expect more competitors to necessarily improve this particular problem. It might make it worse by fragmenting things. If you want to see the end of frivelous copyright claims and takedowns, we need copyright reform that strengthens and expands fair use and adds serious liabilities for bad faith claims.