YouTube Cracks Down on AI-Generated Fake Movie Trailers, Suspends Major Channels

YouTube Cracks Down on Fake Movie Trailer Channels Making Money

As the AI-generated content clips swarm the platform, action is finally being taken to de-monetize them. As we approach the summer blockbuster and Comic-Con footage season, it comes as no surprise that YouTube is taking firm action against channels that profit from fake footage and trailers. After numerous reports about how various online creators, such as Screen Culture, were pulling in big numbers with fake trailers, their demonetization marks the start of YouTube removing channels that utilize AI generated content from its partner programs. YouTube has changed its position on how to handle the misrepresentation of major movie IP on its platform and shared about the move to Deadline, “Our enforcement decisions, including suspensions from the YouTube partner program, apply to all channels that may be owned or operated by the impacted creator.â€Â Screen Culture and its associated channels Screen Trailers and KH have consistently grown as their cinematic concept visuals deceived online audiences into believing they were seeing the real thing from major movie studios. Among the fake trailers were major blockbuster IP such as Thunderbolts*, The Fantastic Four: First Steps and countless other movies on the wayâ€"many of which don't even have official trailers out quite yet. Before this move, studios were at least able to nab ad revenue from the channels hawking AI heavy copies of their goods. The trend was frowned down upon by SAG-AFTRA as it enabled exploitation of their actors talents and worth; the union previously previously shared, “Monetizing unauthorized, unwanted, and subpar uses of human-centered IP is a race to the bottom. It incentivizes technology companies and short-term gains at the expense of lasting human creative endeavor.â€

YouTube's fake movie trailer conspiracy deepens as more channels suspended

5 YouTube features Google needs to add ASAP to fix the platform's biggest flaws Summary YouTube just prohibited ad sales on fake movie trailer channels Screen Trailers and Royal Trailer, alt accounts of two channels previously bannd for violating IP guidelines. In some cases, studios claimed monetization rights to fake trailers created using the studios' IP, raising ethical concerns over ethics, fair use, and AI-generated content. SAG-AFTRA takes issue with generative AI utilizing actors' identities for profit, in an echo of the classic "fake Shemp" phenomenon. Intellectual property violations can sometimes be easy to spot. If an individual produces and sells stickers, shirts, or other merchandise using a trademarked entity (such as an official comic book character) without permission, they might get a cease-and-desist letter from the IP owner. It can be harder to detect with the rising popularity of generative AI, but at least that part of the law remains relatively clear. So, what happens when the IP owners turn out to be actively benefiting from an independent party's misuse of their content? That's what the entertainment world has wondered since a bombshell Deadline investigation exposed major studios' apparent connection to -- and profit from -- some popular fake movie trailers. Today, YouTube demonetized channels Screen Trailers and Royal Trailer after determining they were alternate accounts of previously banned creators (Source: Deadline). The ban evasion only deepens the intrigue surrounding an extremely odd situation. Related Circle to Search could've been the Shazam we needed for movies Google, name that movie Posts Evading the all-knowing YouTube banhammer It works until it doesn't YouTube silenced two prominent fake movie trailer channels, Screen Culture and KH Studio, in March. The trailers, which enjoy considerable popularity online, combine existing footage of established characters with generative AI videos for an end product that can be surprisingly convincing. YouTube has wrestled with IP violations since its inception, with offenders seeing backlash from automated DMCA takedown requests as well as direct, sometimes heavy-handed communication from corporate lawyers. Where this interesting case differs is the response from some IP holders. Deadline's investigation revealed Warner Bros. Discovery claims to monetization rights on fake trailers for Superman and House of the Dragon produced by the team behind Screen Culture, Screen Trailers, and others. While it doesn't appear any studios are directly funding fake, AI-generated trailers, the production houses' willingness to pocket the change makes it clear part of Screen Culture founder Nikhil P. Chaudhari's theory is correct. If the copyright strike claims don't arrive, and the IP owners actively profit from the fake trailers, one can argue there's tacit support for fake trailers from the movie studios. Related 7 best Google TV apps for streaming movies and shows for free Free cinema and zero-dollar TV! Posts The fake Shemp is bad for entertainment Why fans, actors, creators, and ultimately executives should care Actors' union members do have the option of signing with Replica for AI generation of their voices in movies, games, and other media, but it's an opt-in process. One potential issue arises from misleading both dedicated and casual fans, who could unfairly judge a franchise or feel let down by narrative decisions introduced by a fake trailer. Presumably, it would not be difficult to craft a fake promotional video that comes off as convincing, but is far too outlandish or offensive for an IP owner to allow it to remain, let alone claim profit from its YouTube ad sales. Monetizing unauthorized, unwanted, and subpar uses of human-centered IP is a race to the bottom. It incentivizes technology companies and short-term gains at the expense of lasting human creative endeavor. -- SAG-AFTRA on the fake, partly AI-generated trailers. A further problem supersedes the movie studios' involvement, though. SAG-AFTRA, the union that protects tens of thousands of creative professionals worldwide, argues the fake trailers and generative AI content illegally leverage others' IP -- namely, their identities, voices, and appearances -- for profit. AI reconstruction of real-life actors and their roles is just the modern evolution of the fake Shemp. Appropriately coined by director Sam Raimi, whose Spider-Man films saw countless fake trailers made long before today's AI came around, fake Shemp describes a creator (typically a movie or TV studio) using trickery to pass off a new actor as a previous one. In the case of AI-generated fake trailers, directors are seemingly turning a blind eye to -- and, as Deadline discovered, actively profiting from -- individuals misusing IP for private, monetary gain. SAG-AFTRA bans fake Shemp trickery without the permission of the former actor, and it will clearly continue fighting the flood of AI-generated IP violations.

YouTube hates AI trailer slop as much as I do

Bullshit trailers are a blight on YouTube. And they have been for a long time. Just throw together clips of older movies and actors, title it "The Dark Knight Rises 2: Robin's First Flight," and sit back and watch the clicks (and the ad revenue) roll in. But with generative "AI" videos now just a few clicks away, they've become an infestation, clogging up every relevant search. YouTube has finally had enough. AI-generated trailers have created a huge crop of videos that do nothing but lie to viewers by stealing a movie studio's IP and then regurgitating it back at you, all delivered with a tiny "concept" disclaimer somewhere in the description text (and often not even that). It is genuinely horrible stuff, all the more detestable because it takes about three minutes of human work and hours upon hours of datacenter computation, boiling the planet and benefiting no one and nothing in the process. I have half a mind to [Editor's note: At this point Michael ranted for approximately 1500 words on the evils of the AI industry and those who use its products. Terms like "perfidious" and "blatherskite" were used, along with some shorter ones that we won't repeat. Suffice it to say, he is rather upset.] After letting them run rampant for a couple of years, it looks like YouTube is finally cracking down on these slop factories. Deadline reports that YouTube has suspended a total of four separate channels dedicated to AI-generated trailers for fake movies (or real, upcoming movies that don't have trailers yet). Two were suspended back in March, and their alternate channels have now been smacked with the same banhammer. The channels, allegedly created by just two individual users, are not actually removed from the platform. But they cannot monetize their videos, and are presumably suffering some pretty big losses in search visibility as well. Combined, the initial two channels had more than two million subscribers. Deadline doesn't have specific statements from YouTube on what policies the channels violated, but speculates that YouTube finally decided to enforce its misinformation policy, basic original material policies that mirror US copyright and fair use rules, and guidelines that deter uploaders from creating videos with the "sole purpose of getting views." It didn't take long to find an example of this slop. A search for "star wars trailer 2026" shows two blatantly fake AI trailers, complete with Disney logos on the thumbnails, popping up in search ahead of the first results from the official Star Wars channel itself. The latest one was generated less than a week ago, splicing in clips from the real movies with AI-generated video clips and narration trained on the actors' voices. Awkward and unconvincing shifts between short splices of video show the current limitations of the technology, even after it has progressed rapidly. A Deadline report in March brought broader attention to the AI trailer problem, highlighting that some Hollywood studios have chosen to use YouTube's content flagging system to simply claim the ad revenue from the fake trailer rather than getting them removed. After all, if someone else is doing all the "work" and getting paid, why try to protect your intellectual property and artistic integrity, when you can just grab the money instead? Turning off the monetization faucet for these channels might get the studios to finally enforce their own copyright, now that the money well is gone. YouTube continues to suffer from an absolute flood of AI slop from every direction. AI-generated video, narration, and even scripts are becoming a larger presence on the platform as a whole, particularly in YouTube Shorts, mirroring pretty much every social network on the web. This extremely basic enforcement of YouTube's policies aside, the platform doesn't seem all that interested in stemming the tide...and perhaps that has something to do with parent company Google selling its own generative AI products, and integrating them into YouTube itself.

YouTube Takes Action Against Fake AI-Generated Movie Trailers

YouTube is cracking down on channels creating fake AI-generated movie trailers, a genre of content that has become extremely popular on the platform. In recent years, YouTube has become a breeding ground for AI-generated fake movie trailers, flooding the platform with misleading yet engrossing content. These trailers, which usually mix real movie clips with AI-generated visuals, can often appear real to viewers. As a result, many of these fake movie trailers go viral with these YouTube channels amassing billions of views. One of the most well-known examples was an AI trailer for the upcoming Superman reboot, which was so convincing, it fooled French national television. It was later revealed that instead of clamping down on these copyright-infringing videos, major Hollywood studios have opted for a different approach: monetizing them. These Hollywood studios struck a deal with YouTube to redirect ad revenue from these misleading trailers, treating the situation more like a business opportunity than a violation of intellectual property. However, according to a report published by Deadline, YouTube has begun a crackdown on such creators, removing them from its Partner Program and stripping them of the opportunity to make ad revenue. The platform has taken action against channels like Screen Trailers and Royal Trailer, which post AI-generated trailers of big-name films, and suspended ad revenue on them. These channels are managed by the creators of Screen Culture and KH Studio, which were also reportedly removed from the Partner Program in March. Screen Culture has 1.4 million subscribers, while its alternative account Screen Trailers has 33,000 followers. KH Studio has 724,000 subscribers, while Royal Trailer has 53,000 followers. "Our enforcement decisions, including suspensions from the YouTube partner program, apply to all channels that may be owned or operated by the impacted creator," YouTube tells Deadline in a statement. These fake movie trailers often copy the visual style of real movie previews, making it hard for viewers to tell the difference. YouTube has strict rules around monetization and misleading content. The platform prohibits content that has been technically manipulated or doctored in a way that misleads viewers. "If you borrow content from someone else, you need to change it significantly to make it your own," YouTube says in its guidelines. It also says, "your content should be made for the enjoyment or education of viewers." YouTube's monetization rules also say that reused content must not be "duplicative or repetitive" and should not be created just "for the sole purpose of getting views."

YouTube suspends major AI movie trailer accounts with over 2 million total subscribers from revenue earning partner program

But I was really looking forward to that Fantastic Five movie where Mickey Mouse smokes a joint. YouTube is finally doing something about all those AI trailer videos that have been cropping up all over the platform. If you've been on the internet in the past few years you've likely seen one of these AI film trailers. Mayve you've even left a poorly generated AI comment on them. They often feature cuts of famous actors spliced in from other projects, or as is becoming more common, straight up fake generated footage to advertise equally non-existent movies. This is all done in the name of revenue, and so YouTube has suspended several large AI trailer accounts from the company's paid partner program. This all comes after Deadline began investigating the rise of AI trailer videos on YouTube. Since then the website reports the suspension of two YouTube channels, Screen Culture and KH Studio, from earning revenue from their AI videos. The channels have 1.4M subscribers and 724,000 subs respectively, and that's just on their primary accounts. "Our enforcement decisions, including suspensions from the YouTube partner program, apply to all channels that may be owned or operated by the impacted creator." reads a statement from YouTube, so it should include any of their smaller linked accounts too. Taking monetisation away from these accounts is a good start, as it's clearly the driving goal. Not just for these accounts, but also from others that may be claiming their own revenue. Deadlines investigation also brought to light that prominent Hollywood studios, including Warner Bros. Discovery and Sony, have claimed ad revenue on Screen Culture trailers. So even the companies in control of the IP aren't particularly motivated to put a stop to these videos, especially while checks are still rolling in. With the suspension on these major accounts, hopefully we'll see a huge dip in their propensity on YouTube. Without financial remuneration the creators of these videos should be less incentivised by spreading misinformation. There's also the glimmer of light that suggests this could be the start of YouTube taking more serious action againswt AI content on the platform. Though I worry that's probably a little bit too much to hope for in one day.