Cops Are Using Copyrighted Music to Block Videos From Being Posted

A report has emerged of a Police Sergeant playing popular music on their smartphone when they realized they were being filmed, BoingBoing.net writes.

The strange behavior may be part of a concerted effort to have these types of videos flagged and removed by copyright-strike algorithms on YouTube, Instagram, and other social media sites.

The example was shared on Instagram — which has not flagged the video — by mrcheckpoint_ who filmed a Sergeant of the Beverly Hills P.D blasting Sublime's 'Santeria' out of his smartphone.

Mrcheckpoint_ said the following in his video description:

"I believe Sergeant Fair aka BILLY FAIR is using copyrighted music to keep me from being able to play these videos on social media. Then tells me in the second video he couldn’t hear me earlier in the day and also couldn’t hear me then, all while playing music."

He isn’t alone. I have video of this happening with another officer who played music as I was talking. Is this an order from the top? Wait till I show you more. Until then I’ll be filing a complaint on this officer Fair and officer Reyes who had done it before to me. It’s outrageous."

View this post on Instagram A post shared by ALWAYS FILM THE POLICE #AFTP (@mrcheckpoint_)

Though it would be conjecture at this point to say this particular use of playing music is an order from higher up in the Police Department, it isn't unthinkable.

Starting in October last year, copyright and DMCA strikes became a hot topic as popular streamers on Twitch and other content creator platforms found that their recent and older videos were being removed due to music copyright infringement.

In fact, the incredibly hyped-up triple-A videogame Cyberpunk 2077, released in December 2019, even included a dedicated feature for content creators allowing them to disable copyrighted music that would otherwise have their streams or video uploads removed by copyright algorithms.

In any case, this particular Sargeant's attempts present us with a brilliant example of the Streisand Effect, a social phenomenon whereby someone trying to hide their actions has the complete opposite effect of having them exposed to an even wider audience.