Content ID

A rights holder supplies a reference and uploads get matched against it. A match creates a claim, and the policy the owner set decides what follows: the video is monetised for them, tracked quietly, blocked in certain countries, or blocked outright.

Access is restricted, granted to owners with exclusive rights to a body of material that gets uploaded often, so most creators only ever meet the system from the receiving end. A claim and a copyright strike are different things. A claim affects money and availability while leaving your standing untouched, and a strike is a formal legal removal that puts the channel itself at risk. Mixing the two up causes an enormous amount of unnecessary panic, and it is the single most common misunderstanding creators have about copyright on the platform.