Transparency ReportAt YouTube, we work hard to maintain a safe and vibrant community. We have community guidelines that set the rules of the road for what we don't allow on YouTube. For example, we do not allow pornography, incitement to violence, harassment or hate speech. We rely on a combination of people and technology to flag inappropriate content and enforce these guidelines. Flags can come from our automated flagging systems, from members of the Priority Flagger Programme or from users in the broader YouTube community. This report provides data on the flags that YouTube receives and how we enforce our policies.
A YouTube channel is terminated if it accrues three Community Guidelines strikes in 90 days, has a single case of severe abuse (such as predatory behaviour) or is determined to be wholly dedicated to violating our guidelines (as is often the case with spam accounts). When a channel is terminated, all of its videos are removed.
This exhibit shows the number of channels removed by YouTube for violating its Community Guidelines per quarter.
This chart shows the volume of channels removed by YouTube, by the reason a channel was removed. The majority of channel terminations are a result of accounts being dedicated to spam or adult sexual content in violation of our guidelines.
When we terminate a channel for receiving three Community Guidelines strikes for violating several different policies within a three month period, we categorise it under a separate label – 'Multiple policy violations'– because these accounts were not wholly dedicated to one policy violation.
YouTube relies on teams around the world to review flagged videos and remove content that violates our community guidelines; restrict videos (e.g. age-restrict content that may not be appropriate for all audiences); or leave the content live when it doesn’t violate our guidelines.
This exhibit shows the number of videos removed by YouTube for violating its Community Guidelines per quarter.
This chart shows the volume of videos removed by YouTube, by source of first detection (automated flagging or human detection). Flags from human detection can come from a user or a member of YouTube’s Priority Flagger Programme. Priority Flagger Programme members include NGOs and government agencies, which are particularly effective at notifying YouTube of content that violates our community guidelines.
YouTube strives to prevent content that breaks our rules from being widely viewed –or viewed at all – before it's removed. Automated flagging enables us to act more quickly and accurately to enforce our policies. This chart shows the percentage of video removals that occurred before they received any views versus those that occurred after receiving some views.
This chart shows the volume of videos removed by YouTube, by the reason a video was removed. These removal reasons correspond to YouTube’s Community Guidelines. Reviewers evaluate flagged videos against all of our Community Guidelines and policies, regardless of the reason the video was originally flagged.
This chart shows the number of videos removed by YouTube, by the country/region of upload. This data is based on the uploader’s IP address at the time the video was uploaded. The IP address usually corresponds with where an uploader is geolocated, unless they are using a virtual private network (VPN) or proxy server.
YouTube’s Community Guidelines are enforced consistently across the globe, regardless of where the content is uploaded. When content is removed for violating our guidelines, it is removed globally. For information about content removals or restrictions based on local laws, see Google’s Government requests to remove content transparency report.
* Country/region is based on IP address at time of video upload
YouTube is a vibrant community in which millions of people post billions of comments each quarter. Using a combination of people and technology, we remove comments that violate our community guidelines. We also filter comments that we strongly believe are spam for creators to review and approve if they choose.
This exhibit shows the volume of comments removed by YouTube for violating our
Community Guidelines
and filtered as likely spam which creators did not approve.
The data does not include comments removed when YouTube disables the comment section on a video. It also does not include comments taken down when a video itself is removed (individually or through a channel-level suspension), when a commenter’s account is terminated, or when a user chooses to remove certain comments or hold them for review.
Most removed comments are detected by our automated flagging systems but they can also be flagged by human flaggers. We rely on teams around the world to review flagged comments and remove content that violates our Terms of Service, or leave the content live when it doesn’t violate our guidelines.
This chart shows the volume of comments removed by YouTube for violating our Community Guidelines, by source of first detection (automated flagging or human detection). The majority of actions that we take on comments is for violating our guidelines against spam.
This chart shows the number of comments removed by YouTube, and the reason why a comment was removed. These removal reasons correspond to YouTube’s Community Guidelines. The majority of actions that we take on comments is for violating our guidelines against spam.
Viewers and creators around the world use YouTube to express their ideas and opinions. YouTube’s approach to responsibility involves four Rs: Remove violative content, Raise authoritative voices, Reduce recommendations of borderline content and Reward trusted creators.
Learn more at How YouTube Works arrow_forward