Why All Educational Videos Are the Same

YouTube has a plagiarism problem, and perhaps its best exemplified by OBF - a YouTuber who has gained infamy for plagiarising other educational channels. OBF is not just an isolated problem but he's representative of a bigger, ever-growing problem on the platform.

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Faultline is produced by:

Executive Producer/Story Editor/Host: Andy Burgess
Story/Research: Jamie Elms
Additional input from: Aparna Ganesan
Edit: Andy Burgess
Artwork: Tim Burgess of Wild Tales Illustration

Special thanks to:

Additional Footage from Storyblocks

Sources 🔗

Other channels mentioned in this piece all making great content: @neoexplains @NotJustBikes @johnnyharris @Vox @ThePresentPast_ @PolyMatter @Wendoverproductions @RealEngineering @hoogyoutube @IntoEurope @MoneyMacro

Time Stamps:
0:00 - OBF is copying everyone
1:00 - The growing problem of plagiarism
1:37 - Inspiration vs Plagiarism
2:23 - The problem with OBF
3:48 The Vox & NJB example
5:17 - How big is the issue of plagiarism on YouTube
6:35 - Copyright & Fair use explained.
8:04 - YouTube are helping Creators fight the problem
8:43 - The blurred lines of copyright online
9:16 - Not Just Bikes on the importance of copyright
10:10 - The importance of Sourcing
11:04 - Our secret to making weekly videos
11:57 - How The Present Past finds academic research
12:18 - Tips on creating original content from Not Just Bikes

[OBFYT]

This is a really well-made video Faultine, and thank you for making it.

It's no secret that I've made a lot of mistakes here on YouTube, and big ones at that. I completely understand where other creators are coming from, it's not a great feeling when others plagiarise your content. I struggle with the fact that I've done this to other creators, and for not understanding copyright properly. So I've done everything to better myself and make sure it simply will not happen again.

As you pointed out in the video I list and credit all sources now. I've also allied myself with people much better at research, writing, editing and animations than I am. It's the reason we're able to make a fair amount of videos and still keep the necessary quality in both scriptwriting and editing.

I really want to do better and it hurts me to see that you feel I've wronged you as well. I can assure you I've never seen your channel before and also haven't modelled my video or thumbnail after yours. But since my credibility is hurt, I would love to have a chat with you about this so I can properly hear your persepctive.

Lastly, I just want to say I'm open to discuss it with all creators who feel I've wronged them in some way. I want to do what I can to understand where they are coming from, and what mistakes I've made so I can try to solve them.

Also, you said you reached out to me which I was confused by but I just checked my Twitter and can see you wrote there... (I don't check my Twitter dm's)



-Oliver

[DisasterBreakdown]

I remember when I was in middle school in the mid 2000s. Our history teacher gave us all an assignment on a particular historical event and we all had to present our work in front of the class. It turns out a lot of us (even myself) used the same Wikipedia page for "research", we all basically copied the same few webpages and so spent a whole hour almost presenting our work word for word in front of the class one after each other. We all got a stern talking to from our teachers about plagiarism after that classroom blunder. It always stuck with me.

[indi]

I was a watcher of OBF, and experienced the exact déjà vu you described during some of his videos - unconsciously, without even realising it. The subway video copy line-for-line blew my mind. Thank you for releasing this video and raising my awareness. Consider me subscribed.

[neoexplains]

I like that you opened up the topic. This isn’t black and white. There are edge cases where the line between inspiration and copying get’s blurry. I believe some of this bad behavior also stems from a broader internet culture where people are used to freely recycling content without regard to copyright. For many YouTubers, myself included, it was definitely a learning process in the beginning. What I think triggers the general frustration among YouTubers about OBF is less the original mistakes, but more the fact that there is no willingness to self-criticism.
Especially in the last few months I have seen many examples where YouTubers deal constructively with criticism and in the end even create something good. Think of Alan Fisher's criticism of the RealLifeLore video, which ultimately led to a new improved video. Or Present Past's criticism of a video by Johnny Harris, which was not perceived as an attack but as an opportunity to improve. In the same spirit, I also hope that this discourse on copying will continue to be productive and encourage us all to reflect and improve. Thanks for this video!

[CadetKosmov]

As a Spanish and English speaking person I always see English videos being translated and posted as original content, sometimes getting even more views than the original. This probably happens with other languages but is harder for the original creators to track without someone telling them.

[alanthefisher]

Fantastic video, it's really a problem that YouTube really needs to address.

PS: I'm an idiot that just found your email to me, my bad 😅😅

[christianhagen]

I saw OBF's "us enemies are not going to like" video in my feed after I watched your video, and my first thought was, "Why is YouTube recommending me the same video after I watched it" and then I looked closer, and I was so confused.

[MacLethal]

One of the reasons I stopped uploading is because people straight up jack your ideas. Instead of being inspired by your idea, to go make something new, they seriously just copy it. And sometimes get tons of views from it.

It’s beyond frustrating.

[LeahandLevi]

I think this is a great reminder that we need to keep improving. As a content creator I strive to create something distinct and unique to compliment the already existing conversion. Not always perfect, but it’s a good standard to reach for.

[ThePresentPast_]

Excellent piece Andy. Glad to be part of it!

[BooneLovesVideo]

I came for the maps. I'm staying for the drama.

[KhAnubis]

The fact that I haven't seen him copy any of my videos almost feels more insulting than anything

Obviously there's only a finite amount of popular topics for several dozen geo-tubers to squabble over and picking topics can be a massive bottleneck, but as you briefly mentioned, that doesn't mean you can't provide your own voice and perspective to it. I, like a lot of people, make a point not to watch other videos on topics I'm working on, even if to keep me from accidentally copying them. Even if you can't think of an original topic, you can always cover it in an original way.
It honestly makes me wonder if we should start putting information traps like maps and dictionaries used to do

[Tom_Nicholas]

In addition to what Jason said, educational content is uniquely affected by this as a result of how much work one has to put into the research and writing. I imagine some of these copycat channels really want to make good, educational stuff but then got put off when they realise quite how much time and energy one has to put into reading and synthesising information.

[CalumRaasay]

A big issue I have with a lot of these video essayists is that very few ever present much in the way of truly original research. So often it just feels like summaries of Wikipedia pages, or information drawn from a single source but with some fancy graphics on top or just simple stock footage. It feels lazy and more than anything it feels like a waste of a chance to truly uncover something new about a subject.

Shout out to Vox though. I think they truly go out of their way not only to discover new topics, but also interview experts, and really bring new facts to a topic. However for every Vox, there seems to be a 100 others just regurgitating the same content.

[TommoCarroll]

Great video Andy and team, it's definitely something that is becoming more and more noticeable on YouTube and probably across the board on social media. Like some other people have mentioned, there are almost different types of plagiarism too that are simply missed because they're not on the same platform, but these clear examples really hammer the point home.

[terramater]

As you mentioned, it sometimes really is a mere coincidence - sometimes just due to the nature of specific trending topics. In fact, we're publishing a video about America's water crisis tomorrow. We had it in the pipeline for a couple of weeks now, yet it still has some similarities your video. Nothing intentional - pls believe us! 😉 (PS. OBF's word-for-word copying or thumbnail similarity is indeed ludicrous - and we do understand your frustration, especially when your channel is still so young).

[NDUWUISI]

This is a masterclass in giving constructive criticism and confronting a problem

[FuturologyChannel]

This is definitely a real problem. I experienced it with RealLifeLore on my Istanbul Canal video. YouTube needs to figure out some sort of solution.

[StuffWePlay]

I am so happy to have been a part of making this video and helping to have brought it to life. As creators - especially creators who are creating educational content and/or come from journalistic backgrounds - what would it say of us if we didn't feel comfortable calling out plagiarism and holding each other accountable? Really love how this look came out!

[roundedosu]

OBF is not one person. it's a group of people with a guy in charge, who pays the animator, the voiceover guy and possibly even the script writer. there are MANY such cases and they are extremely successful