Managing your facial likeness with likeness detection

Likeness detection helps you find content where your face may have been altered or generated by AI, and lets you review them to decide on the appropriate action. If the tool finds any videos, you can easily request removal through our privacy complaint process. Likeness detection helps you control your likeness, safeguard your identity, and protect your viewers. If your channel features multiple creators, all of them can set up this feature for themselves.

Likeness detection works similarly to Content ID, except that it searches for a person’s likeness rather than copyrighted audio and video content. After you submit a reference of your face through the setup process, our system scans uploads of new videos, which may contain images of other individuals, to identify videos that potentially contain your face. YouTube reviews content using automated systems for many reasons, including ad suitability, copyright, and abuse prevention, in accordance with our Community Guidelines. Our Likeness detection technology can only identify likeness for eligible creators that consent to using the tool. It cannot and is not designed to identify other individuals that appear in uploaded videos.

Notes:

Likeness detection is an experimental feature (limited beta). We appreciate your feedback to help us improve it.
In this experimental phase, the feature may display videos featuring your actual face, not altered or synthetic versions. For example, you may see short clips of your YouTube videos. While these are not removable under our privacy policies, you do have the option to submit a copyright removal request. Before submitting, make sure you consider whether fair use, fair dealing, or a similar copyright exception applies.
This feature is only available in select countries right now, but will be expanding to more soon.

Getting started

Open YouTube Studio.
On the left menu, select Content detection Likeness Start now.
Agree to YouTube using biometric technology to search for your likeness on YouTube.
Complete the Google identity verification process:
- Note: Provide a government ID and a brief video of your face for verification. This helps us prevent fraudulent and abusive uses of likeness detection. We also use the brief video of your face, and images of your face from content on YouTube, to create face templates used to detect videos where your likeness may be altered or made with AI. Please use a clear picture of your official government ID when verifying.
You will receive an email confirmation once setup is completed.
- Note: This process may take up to 5 days once the required ID and video selfie are submitted.
Repeat the steps above for each person who appears on camera and would like to enroll.

Review & take action on potential use of your likeness

Open YouTube Studio.
On the left menu, select Content detection Likeness For review.
Review detected videos where your face may be altered or made with AI.
- Note: You can select a filter to find videos by number of views (Total views) or channels by number of subscribers (Subscribers).
Click Review next to a video for a more detailed view of the video.
Review the video to indicate whether you believe your image or voice was altered or generated with AI:
1. Select Yes. You believe your image or voice was altered or generated with AI.
  - Actions you can take:
    - Take no action: Select this option to keep the video live. You’re okay with the video being on YouTube. You can still submit a privacy complaint later at any time.
    - Request content removal: Select this option if you think the video violates our privacy guidelines, and you want to submit a privacy complaint for content altered or generated with AI. To complete the privacy complaint, please continue by filling out the necessary information.
2. Select No. Your image or voice was not altered or generated with AI.
  - Next, tell us more:
    - It’s real footage of me: Select this option if the video contains real footage of you.
    - It’s not my face: Select this option if the video contains content that is of someone else and not of your face.
      - Note: Detected videos where you choose to not take action or determine that it’s not using your likeness will be moved to the Archived tab.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who is eligible to use likeness detection?

Eligibility and Access

To be eligible to set up likeness detection, you must be over 18. Only the Channel Owner or users listed as Managers of the channel can set up and onboard to likeness detection. While Editors can view and take action on detected videos, they aren’t able to set up likeness detection. Learn more about channel roles and how to manage permissions.

Note: You can only set up likeness detection for one channel.

Why am I not seeing any detected videos in my detection tool?

Upon initial access to the feature's home page, you may not immediately see any detected videos. Furthermore, if altered or synthetic content featuring your face is infrequently or never uploaded to YouTube, you might observe a limited number of detected videos. This is completely normal, and indicates that we haven’t detected unauthorized use of your visual likeness on the platform.

If you discover a video that contains AI-altered content that looks like you, but it hasn't surfaced in the tool, you can use the privacy request form to ask us to review the content for potential violations of YouTube’s privacy policy.

Why didn’t likeness detection catch content where my likeness was altered or made with AI?

I found a video containing an AI altered depiction of my facial likeness.

The likeness detection feature is in early experimental stages, and the detection software is still being tuned and refined. If you discover a video where your face was altered or made with AI, but it hasn't surfaced in the tool, you can use the privacy request form to ask us to review the content for potential violations of YouTube’s privacy policy.

I found a video where my voice seems to have been altered by AI.

At this time, likeness detection aims to find visual content that looks like you. If you find content containing audio, such as your voice, that you’d like us to review for potential violations of YouTube’s privacy policy, you can report it using the privacy request form.

What should I do if there’s a video that isn’t AI but uses content that belongs to me?

Likeness detection may surface videos that include your actual face, rather than altered or synthetic versions. For example, you may see short clips of your YouTube videos. Even though this content cannot be removed under our privacy policies, if you believe your content has been used without authorization, you have two options: take no action or submit a copyright removal request. Before submitting, make sure you consider whether fair use, fair dealing, or a similar copyright exception applies.

Who is authorized to report a privacy violation on behalf of a channel owner?

As long as a channel delegate is assigned to a role enabling them to access the Content detection tab in Studio, they will be considered an authorized representative and will not require additional verification in order to report a privacy violation for YouTube’s review. These roles include Manager, Editor, and Editor (limited). Learn more about channel roles and how to manage permissions.

How do I manage my privacy complaint?

Understand if your privacy complaint was accepted and rejected

YouTube will email you about the outcome of your complaint if the content is removed.

We try to review and approve requests for removal as fast as we can. If you have submitted a complaint and are concerned about the processing time, please reach out to your YouTube partner manager.

Withdraw your privacy complaint

To request a retraction of a video removal due to a privacy violation complaint you submitted, please reply to the original acknowledgement email that you received from YouTube when submitting the complaint.

Understand privacy complaint rejection

YouTube will not remove all content. We weigh several factors when assessing removal requests, including whether the content is parody or satire, if it includes an AI disclosure, and other considerations. Learn more about the criteria we consider when evaluating a complaint.

Content removal may still occur due to other YouTube policies. Learn more about YouTube’s policies.

How is my data going to be used?

If you sign up to use the likeness detection tool, we will create face and voice templates using:

Your brief video provided during the identity verification process
Images of your face and audio recordings of your voice from your content on YouTube

These will be used to detect when your likeness is being used in altered or synthetic content on YouTube videos.

We will use your full legal name (as captured during the identity verification process) to fulfill relevant removal request requirements.

If the list of detected videos to review contains the likenesses of multiple people who have set up likeness detection through your channel, your full legal name will be displayed next to videos with your face in them, to enable all authorized users of your channel to easily filter for and review videos of specific people.

If you file a likeness removal request for a video detected through this feature, a screenshot from the brief video of your face taken during the verification process may be shown to the YouTube operations team that reviews these removal requests, to enable them to easily identify you in the video.

You may also agree to allow us to use your face and voice templates for improving and training our likeness detection models. You may revoke your consent for this at any time by going to “Manage likeness detection.”

The tool is only used to detect likeness matches of individuals who have opted in to using this feature. It cannot and is not designed to identify other individuals in YouTube videos. Similar to other scanning conducted by YouTube, such as Content ID, our aim is to help detect content which may be in breach of our policies and Community Guidelines and to ensure a safe experience on the YouTube service.

Data storage

Once you sign-up to the likeness detection feature, a unique identifier will be assigned to your brief video of your face, your full legal name, and your face and voice template. These will be stored on YouTube’s internal database for up to 3 years from your last YouTube sign-in date, unless you withdraw your consent from this feature or delete your account. You have the option to withdraw your consent and opt out of likeness detection at any time to prevent further videos from being detected for you. Should you choose to do so, we will delete this information from our systems. Information from your government ID will also be stored in your Payments Profile, which you can access and delete at any time.

Registering for this likeness study does not grant YouTube access to your content for training generative models beyond this specific feature.

We do not store data of individuals who may appear in the YouTube videos we scan when deploying the likeness detection tool.

Will the video of my face for verification be used for any other AI features?

No, we will only use this data to set up the likeness detection feature for you.

Once I’ve set up likeness detection, how do I opt out?

Open YouTube Studio.
On the left menu, click on the Content detection page Likeness.
Click on Manage likeness detection.
Click on Stop finding matches.
Click on Stop.

Note: Once you opt out of likeness detection, you will no longer be able to view a list of detected videos containing your likeness. It may take up to 24 hours to stop finding videos with your likeness after opting out.

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Managing your facial likeness with likeness detection

Getting started

Review & take action on potential use of your likeness

Frequently Asked Questions

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