Fans Celebrate After Google Kills 2 of the Biggest Fake Movie Trailer Channels on YouTube

YouTube Removes Two Major Channels Behind Fake Movie Trailers

Deadline reported that both Screen Culture and KH Studio, whose fake movie trailer videos had collectively generated billions of views, are now unavailable. A search for either channel now returns the same message:

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Screen Culture and KH Studio had amassed millions of subscribers and billions of views by creating fake trailers that often misled fans into believing they were official. With the rise of generative AI, the quality of these videos improved, making them even more convincing and harder to distinguish from real content.

Both channels became infamous online for years of releasing fake trailers, especially for films fans hoped Hollywood would produce or had announced but had not yet released an official trailer for. As expected, the Marvel Cinematic Universe was a frequent target, and some fake trailers even outperformed official ones on YouTube.

After Google demonetized both channels, they began adding disclaimers to their videos, such as “fan trailer,” “concept trailer,” and “parody.” However, as Deadline notes, this effort to regain revenue was short-lived and ultimately led to Google’s latest enforcement action.

It’s worth noting that this crackdown follows Disney’s recent cease-and-desist letter to Google. The entertainment giant has accused Google of copyright infringement “on a massive scale” by using its intellectual property to train its generative AI models. Disney has also licensed many of its iconic characters to OpenAI and made a $1 billion investment in the company behind Sora 2 and ChatGPT.

So far, the online response to the news has been largely positive. “Finally,” said one Reddit user. “I've been trying so hard to block these two from appearing on any of my timelines. Very good news!” Another added, “Great, now can they shut down channels that peddle AI slop to children?” A third commented, “Definitely glad. It's gotten so it can be challenging to find the actual trailers.”

While fake movie trailers remain a major issue on YouTube, video games are facing a similar problem. Last month, an AI-generated GTA 6 gameplay “leak” went viral, misleading thousands of fans across social media. After facing backlash, the creator removed the video, admitted it was AI-generated, and claimed it was all part of a social experiment.

AI-generated misleading videos have surged across the internet in recent years as the technology has become more widespread and accessible. The issue affects all forms of entertainment. Last month, IGN reported that physicist Brian Cox spoke out publicly about YouTube accounts using AI to create deepfakes of him saying “nonsense” about comet 3I/ATLAS. Similarly, Keanu Reeves recently criticized AI deepfakes of the John Wick star selling products without his consent, saying, “It's not a lot of fun.” In July, it was reported that Reeves pays a company a few thousand dollars a month to get platforms like TikTok and Meta to remove impersonators.