Official Blog
Clearing up some policy myths
Friday, September 30, 2011
There seem to be more rumors circulating lately about YouTube’s content policies than there are about
Jennifer’s baby bump
, so we’d like to clarify a few misconceptions.
Myth #1:
YouTube pre-screens the videos that you upload.
Truth:
48 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube every minute. It’s not possible to proactively review this much content. Believe us. And even if it were, it would be far less effective than deploying all of you—our global community—to help us identify videos that potentially violate our
Community Guidelines
. You all have really stepped up to the task, flagging thousands upon thousands of videos every day. After you flag videos, YouTube staff review them against our Community Guidelines. If they violate our Guidelines, they come down. If they don’t, they stay up, sometimes with an age-restriction.
Myth #2:
If I repeatedly flag a video, it will come down.
Truth:
No matter how many times you flag
Baby
, it will not come down. It’s been flagged. We’ve reviewed it. And it does not violate our Community Guidelines. If you’ve considered spearheading a flagging campaign to bring down a video you don’t like, save yourself the time. Videos that don’t violate our Guidelines simply won’t be taken off the site for policy reasons.
Myth #3:
If I flag a video, the uploader will know who I am.
Truth:
We do not reveal any of your personal information when you flag content for a
Community Guidelines
violation.
Myth #4:
If I inaccurately report content that I genuinely believe violates YouTube’s policies, my account will be terminated.
Truth:
People who flag in good faith will not be penalized for inaccurately reporting content. That said, if you’re looking to improve your flagging skills, take a minute to review our Community Guidelines.
Myth #5:
If my video is removed for a Community Guidelines violation, that’s the end of the story.
Truth:
We have a
video appeals process
that allows users to appeal a video strike if they disagree with our team’s decision. Our reviewers are human too. We review a lot of content, and we occasionally make mistakes. We aim to keep these mistakes to a minimum and try to fix any errors we may have made.
Myth #6:
If someone puts an embarrassing or otherwise sensitive video of me on YouTube, it will remain on the site forever.
Truth:
Whether you’re singing karaoke or riding the mechanical bull at a bar, we all do things we’d rather not have broadcasted to the world. If a video contains your image or other personal information and you didn’t consent to it, you can submit a
privacy removal request
.
Myth #7:
YouTube censors art.
Truth:
We support free expression and want YouTube to be a place where artists can showcase their work, even if that work contains some skin. We don’t typically allow nudity that’s sexual in nature. If your video contains nudity and you clearly explain the artistic, educational, or scientific context, it may stay up with an age-restriction. What do we mean by
context
?
Myth #8:
It’s a good idea to include tags like ‘Lady Gaga’ and ‘Double Rainbow’ in my video title and description even if they’re unrelated to my video.
Truth:
Tags are meant to help users find relevant videos. It’s not cool to use unrelated tags to try to trick people into watching your video. Select tags that accurately describe your video. If you do take the low road, your video will likely be struck for misleading metadata.
Myth #9:
We [YouTube’s Policy Team] are robots.
Truth:
We are in fact real people equipped with brains, hearts and strong moral compasses. As cheesy as it may sound, we don’t just do this job because we get paid to watch videos all day; we do it because we care about YouTube and want you to have a positive experience on our site.
Amanda Conway, Policy Associate, recently watched “
Flight of the Conchords: Robot Song (HBO)
.”
Labels
3D
4k
accessibility
account info
activism
ads
africa
annotations
arts
awards
benefit
betas
bizblog
blogs
bulletins
buzz
captions
celebrity playlists
channels
chrome
citizen journalism
citizen reporting
citizentube
comedy
comments
community
community guidelines
contests
creator's corner
creators
curators
customization
dance
design
discovery
doodle
editor
education
embeds
entertainment
events
facebook
film
flagging
gaming
gmail
google
google tv
government
grants
groups
guidelines
hd
help center
holidays
homepage
howto
inspiration
investment
jobs
journalism
life in a day
live stream
marketing
meetups
mobile
moderator
movies
music
musicians wanted
news
nonprofits
open-source
partners
playlists
policy
politics
privacy
product update
quicklist
ratings
rentals
research
safety
science and technology
screening room
search
sharing
shows
social networks
sports
staff
stats and data
store
subscriptions
tags
test tube
travel
trends
tv
twitter
upload
vevo
video editing
video production
video volunteers
viral video
youtube api
youtube direct
Archive
2019
Dec
Nov
Oct
Sep
Aug
Jul
Jun
May
Apr
Mar
Feb
Jan
2018
Dec
Nov
Oct
Sep
Aug
Jul
Jun
May
Apr
Mar
Feb
Jan
2017
Dec
Nov
Oct
Sep
Aug
Jul
Jun
May
Apr
Mar
Feb
Jan
2016
Dec
Nov
Oct
Sep
Aug
Jul
Jun
May
Apr
Mar
Feb
Jan
2015
Dec
Nov
Oct
Sep
Aug
Jul
Jun
May
Apr
Mar
Feb
Jan
2014
Dec
Nov
Oct
Sep
Aug
Jul
Jun
May
Apr
Mar
Feb
Jan
2013
Dec
Nov
Oct
Sep
Aug
Jul
Jun
May
Apr
Mar
Feb
Jan
2012
Dec
Nov
Oct
Sep
Aug
Jul
Jun
May
Apr
Mar
Feb
Jan
2011
Dec
Nov
Oct
Sep
Aug
Jul
Jun
May
Apr
Mar
Feb
Jan
2010
Dec
Nov
Oct
Sep
Aug
Jul
Jun
May
Apr
Mar
Feb
Jan
2009
Dec
Nov
Oct
Sep
Aug
Jul
Jun
May
Apr
Mar
Feb
Jan
2008
Dec
Nov
Oct
Sep
Aug
Jul
Jun
May
Apr
Mar
Feb
Jan
2007
Dec
Nov
Oct
Sep
Aug
Jul
Jun
May
Apr
Mar
Feb
Jan
2006
Dec
Nov
Oct
Sep
Aug
Jul
Jun
May
Apr
Mar
Feb
Jan
2005
Dec
Nov
Oct
Sep
Aug
Jul
Feed
Follow @youtube
Follow
Learn more in the
YouTube Help Center
.
Follow