- kind
- provider-policy
- target
- likeness
- jurisdiction
- YouTube (industry)
- mechanism
- Creators who are 18 or older and are a channel owner or manager can set up likeness detection by verifying their identity with a government ID and a selfie video and agreeing to let YouTube use biometric technology to search for their likeness; YouTube then performs a one-time scan of newly uploaded videos to identify content that potentially contains that creator's face altered or generated by AI, and the creator can submit a likeness removal request, submit a copyright removal request, or archive the match. The help page now also says some users have the option to record a speaking voice sample during setup, with voice-match detection still rolling out; voice complaints otherwise go through the privacy complaint process.
- status
- active
- owns
- Distinct from every tracked provider-policy row (all of which gate who may create a voice clone or avatar at intake) by working downstream instead: a platform-wide, biometric, scan-and-flag system paired with a subject-initiated takedown request, closer in shape to the takedown mechanism in take-it-down-act than to any intake-consent policy, but run unilaterally by a single platform rather than by federal statute.
- notes
- Setup requires agreeing to let YouTube use biometric technology, per the same help page. Observed live on 2026-10-10: the help page says likeness detection is used to detect matches of an enrolled creator's face and that YouTube is working to extend it to audio in 2026, and it also now says some users will have the option to record a speaking voice sample during setup, with voice-detected videos possibly appearing in the near future (rollout in progress). The help page carries no visible date, so the voice-sample addition cannot be placed in the 2026-09-19 window; it is recorded as a state observed on the live page, not a dated change. Phased-rollout dates in secondary reporting (gHacks, Digital Watch Observatory; pilot around March 2026, all eligible creators around May 2026, CAA partnership) were not verified against a primary YouTube post and are context only.
