Google’s YouTube video-sharing service has deleted close to 30,000 videos after a Japanese copyright society said they were posted without permission, the Associated Press reported. Among the items removed were clips from TV shows, music videos and movies from 23 Japanese companies, Fumiyuki Asakura, an official from the Japan Society for Rights of Authors, Composers and Publishers, told AP. Asakura added that the Japanese copyrights society may ask YouTube to introduce a filter to prevent future uploading of copyrighted clips. The company already employs an audio fingerprinting technology that identifies low-quality versions of licensed clips. YouTube recently signed licensing deals with a number of major record labels for the rights to post their music and videos. The service was acquired earlier this month by Google for $1.65 billion. About 8.5 million of YouTube’s 72.1 million visitors in August were from Japan.

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