Transparency Report

YouTube Community Guidelines enforcement

At 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 program, or from users in the broader YouTube community. This report provides data on the flags YouTube receives and how we enforce our policies.

Removed channels by the numbers

Total channels removed
4,874,056
When a channel is terminated, all of its videos are removed. Number of videos removed during this time period due to a channel-level termination: 72,798,088.

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 behavior), 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.

Channels removed, by removal reason

Spam, misleadin…Harassment and…Nudity or sexual1/484.4%
Removal reasonRemoval amount
Spam, misleading and scams4,112,261
Harassment and cyberbullying209,840
Nudity or sexual144,046
Child safety141,570
Misinformation105,216
Hateful or abusive46,297
Promotion of violence and violent extremism43,233
Harmful or dangerous40,452
Violent or graphic13,402
Other11,139
Multiple policy violations6,600

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 categorize it under a separate label - “Multiple policy violations” - because these accounts were not wholly dedicated to one policy violation.

Removed videos by the numbers

Total videos removed
9,116,182

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.

Videos removed, by source of first detection

Videos removedAutomated flaggingUserOrganizationGovernment agency02,000,0004,000,0006,000,0008,000,00010,000,0008,830,498225,34760,3361
Flagging userVideos removed
Automated flagging8,830,498
User225,347
Organization60,336
Government agency1

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 program. Priority Flagger program members include NGOs and government agencies that are particularly effective at notifying YouTube of content that violates our Community Guidelines.

Videos removed, by views

0 views1-10 views11-100 views101-1,000 views1,001-10,000 views>10,000 views0%20%40%60%59.02%24.20%8.08%5.12%2.31%1.27%
Views bucketPercent
0 views59.02%
1-10 views24.20%
11-100 views8.08%
101-1,000 views5.12%
1,001-10,000 views2.31%
>10,000 views1.27%

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.

Videos removed, by removal reason

Child safetyHarmful or dangerousHarassment and cy…1/35.3%7.7%11.1%11.1%56.5%
Removal reasonRemoval amount
Child safety5,152,925
Harmful or dangerous1,015,118
Harassment and cyberbullying1,011,949
Violent or graphic701,032
Nudity or sexual487,315
Promotion of violence and violent extremism264,640
Hateful or abusive190,935
Other126,603
Spam, misleading and scams85,548
Misinformation80,117

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.

Videos removed, by country/region

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.

RankCountry/region*Videos Removed
1India2,214,068
2Brazil868,952
3United States861,896
4Russia782,428
5Indonesia553,370
6Bangladesh243,357
7Pakistan213,497
8Philippines181,841
9Côte d’Ivoire175,515
10Türkiye160,076

* Country/region is based on IP address at time of video upload

Removed comments by the numbers

Total comments removed
1,299,463,720

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 which we have high confidence 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.

Comments removed, by source of first detection

Automated flaggingHuman flagging99.7%
Flagging sourceRemoval amount
Automated flagging1,295,245,109
Human flagging4,218,611

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 we take on comments is for violating our guidelines against spam.

Comments removed, by removal reason

Spam, misleading a…Harassment and cy…Child safety1/35.5%5.6%6.6%79.1%
Removal reasonRemoval amount
Spam, misleading and scams1,027,240,120
Harassment and cyberbullying86,111,355
Child safety73,039,008
Violent or graphic71,208,399
Hateful or abusive19,689,037
Promotion of violence and violent extremism17,098,768
Other4,697,656
Nudity or sexual248,079
Harmful or dangerous131,298

This chart shows the number of comments removed by YouTube, by the reason 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.

YouTube Community Guidelines enforcement

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
Harassment and cyberbullying
Spam, misleading and scams
Harassment and cyberbullying
Spam, misleading and scams
Harassment and cyberbullying