YouTube Apologizes for Removing 'Lofi Girl' Streams Over False Copyright Claims

YouTube will soon reinstate two popular livestreams by Lofi Girl, which were removed over what was later determined to be “abusive” takedown requests. 

On Sunday, Lofi Girl shared a notice from YouTube regarding the removal of the “lofi hip hop radio — beats to relax/study to” and “lofi hip hop radio — beats to sleep/chill to” streams due to alleged copyright violations. 

Lofi Girl stood by its assertion of “false copyright strikes,” telling TechCrunch that all music on the channel is released through its record label, Lofi Records. The following day, YouTube issued an apology to Lofi Girl via Twitter, and estimated that the two livestreams should be restored within 24 to 48 hours.

YouTube’s community guidelines dictate the first copyright strike serves as a warning and if the account were to receive three strikes, it would lead to termination. Lofi Girl’s former account ChilledCow was taken down in Feb. 2020 for violating the terms of service, a decision that YouTube ultimately acknowledged was a mistake on its part.