Facebook Responds To Video ‘Freebooting,’ Adds Piracy Technology Like YouTube For Some Creators

Earlier this month, YouTube star Hank Green charged Facebook with “cheating, lies and theft” in its sales pitch to the video publisher. Facebook will soon boast technology that could help subdue some of those accusations, for future content, the company announced in a blog post Thursday.

Facebook will employ a matching algorithm that can scan through all videos uploaded to Facebook and identify ones that are nearly matching in video content. Online video host YouTube already has a similar system called Content ID that allows the network to act on copyright problems.

This technology will only be available to a “subset of creators,” the company noted. YouTube is currently available to those users in its Partners program -- those who can take a revenue cut from the advertising played in the video. Facebook has not yet launched its own system but said that it will soon introduce a beta-test to “a small group of partners, including media companies, multi-channel networks and individual video creators,” the blog post reads.

The update is a step in the right direction to prevent piracy, but a delayed one at that, according to some creators like Green. Facebook had already gained a high reach and been pushing its site to creators -- even those already popular on and tied to YouTube. The site has consistently boasted about its reach of 4 billion video views per day.

“It’s a little inexcusable that Facebook, a company with a market cap of $260 BILLION, launched their video platform with no system to protect independent rights holders,” Green wrote in a blog post. “It wouldn’t be surprising if Facebook was working on a solution now which they can roll out conveniently after having made their initial claims at being the biggest, most important thing in video."

In the coming day, Facebook responded to Green’s well-publicized claims. Responding to a press inquiry from International Business Times, Facebook identified several measures it already had to prevent against copyright infringement. The company later that same day endorsed a blog post by Matt Pakes, Facebook’s video product manager.

“We’ve heard from some video publishers that there are ways in which we can be doing a better job. We’ve listened to this feedback, and we’re taking steps in response,” Facebook wrote in Thursday’s post. “These existing measures work well for many creators, but some publishers with particular needs, including creators whose videos have gone viral, have been asking for more tools.”

The beta test will launch shortly. But according to Facebook, this update is the first of many tools the company plans to introduce to cater to creators’ needs. “This will take time, but we’re working on it, and we’re committed,” the blog read.