Facebook finally lets creators claim ad revenue when their videos are stolen
Facebook is cracking down on video pirates.
The social network updated its policy on Thursday to allow original creators to claim any ad revenue made when other users steal their videos for clicks — a practice known as "freeboating."
The new feature will surface potential violations in a dashboard using automated tools. If one of Facebook's mid-roll or pre-roll ads were to appear in a pirated video, the owner can then use the "claim earnings" tool to redirect ad revenue.
The only options available previously for these situations were blocking or requesting removal.
The feature has been a long time coming. Video theft has become a rampant problem in the past couple years as Facebook has amped up its ambitions to become a video platform.
Thursday's announcement puts Facebook's piracy protections closer to matching those of YouTube, which rolled out a similar content ID system years ago.
Patrick Kulp is a Business Reporter at Mashable. Patrick covers digital advertising, online retail and the future of work. A graduate of UC Santa Barbara with a degree in political science and economics, he previously worked at the Pacific Coast Business Times.
