As it is now, YouTube's copyright system is absolutely broken. Not only is it incredibly easy to make a copyright claim on someone's channel, even if it's protected under Fair Use, it's incredibly difficult for them to do anything about it. They shoot first and ask questions later, and as far as they're concerned, you're guilty until proven innocent. This system was to prevent piracy and theft, which is fine because piracy is a big problem, but there's a world of difference between some assh*le uploading full episodes of a TV show and someone using clips for things like criticism, satire, education, or transformative work, all of which are protected by Fair Use. Channels like Nostalgia Critic, YourMovieSucksDOTorg, I Hate Everything, TotalBiscuit, Jim Sterling, Angry Joe, Brad Jones, and countless who make videos for a living, deal with this almost every day. They have had their videos flagged and blocked, their channels taken down, and their ad revenue seized by companies who don't even look over the videos to see if it violates any copyright laws before taking them down, or worse, bullies who can't handle criticism and exploit the system to censor anyone they don't like.
This can not, and should not happen.
If there's anything that I've learned from my years of browsing, it's that the Internet does not like censorship. A few weeks ago, The Fine Bros tried to trademark the word "React", attempted to monopolize a video format that they didn't even come up with and have no ownership of, and tried to sic their fans and lawyers on anyone who used a format similar to that used in their videos. The backlash was immense and immediate, and within days they removed their trademark. In 2011, Congress tried to pass SOPA, which would've put copyright control completely in the hands of corporations and law enforcement. People rose en masse in opposition and websites like Google and Wikipedia blacked out in protest, recognizing it as the weaponization of censorship that it was, and the bill never saw the light of day. In 2008, the Church of Scientology tried to silence and ruin the lives of critics and detractors, and Anonymous exposed them for frauds. YouTube is one of the biggest websites in the world, and it needs to recognize how many people's livelihoods are affected by their unfair system. If they don't fix it soon, it could spell the death of their website.
I implore you to look into copyright laws, check out some of the channels I listed above and learn about the struggles they have to deal with. Spread this video and the countless others addressing the issue around to everyone you know. Hell, send it to someone who can actually make a difference. If we could get this to the attention of someone like John Oliver, Trevor Noah, Bill Maher, Stephen Colbert, someone with a voice that people listen to, YouTube might actually get their sh*t together. The only way YouTube will have their way is if we remain silent, so you have to ask Where's The Fair Use? #WTFU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zVqFAMOtwaI