YouTube Apologizes For Removing Lofi Girl, Will Reinstate Livestreams

YouTube has apologized after livestreams from popular music channel Lofi Girl were removed from the video platform for copyright claims.

YouTube has taken accountability for the removal of two Lofi Girl livestreams. On Monday (July 11), the video platform issued an apology after viewers of the popular music channel were met with "This livestream recording is not available” errors on livestreams “lofi hip hop radio - beats to relax/study to” and “beats to sleep/chill to".

On Sunday, the Lofi Girl Twitter account shared that the videos were removed for copyright violations, the takedown being issued from "FMC Music Sdn Bhd Malaysia” according to a screenshot.

“The lofi radios have been taken down because of false copyright strikes, hopefully @YouTubeCreators @YouTube will sort this quickly...”  Lofi Girl tweeted.

Responding to Lofi Girl's tweet on Monday, YouTube admitted that the videos were mistakenly removed after the reporting system was abused.

The copyright policy on YouTube explains that "creators should only upload videos that they have made or that they’re authorised to use."

"Everyone has access to YouTube’s Copyright Management tools, which give rightsholders control of their copyrighted material on YouTube," the platform notes.

According to YouTube, "a copyright owner submits a valid DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act) complaint through our webform, we take down that video and apply a copyright strike. If a user gets three copyright strikes in 90 days, their account, along with any associated channels, will be terminated."

As YouTube is in the process of reinstating the livestream videos, fans of the channel have tweeted using hashtag #BringBackLofiGirl.