What gets a YouTube video taken down, age-restricted, demonetized or shown to fewer people
88 rules from YouTube's own policy and help pages, in plain words: what triggers each one, what YouTube says, and a link to the page.
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YouTube
At a glance
What happens to a video that breaks one of these YouTube rules, and how many rules lead there.
41 rules:Taken downMostly about minors' safety; spam and misleading tricks; dangerous stunts and challenges.
10 rules:Age-restrictedMostly about nudity and sexual content; violence and gore; drugs, alcohol and tobacco.
24 rules:DemonetizedMostly about reposted or unoriginal videos; violence and gore; drugs, alcohol and tobacco.
7 rules:Shown to fewer peopleMostly about engagement bait; minors' safety; misinformation.
1 rule:Muted or blockedMostly about politics and elections.
3 rules:Labeled or needs a disclosureMostly about AI-generated or altered media; minors' safety; sponsored posts and ads.
2 rules:OtherMostly about low quality and video format.
By topic
Minors' safety7
Violence and gore7
Drugs, alcohol and tobacco5
Nudity and sexual content5
Reposted or unoriginal videos5
Hate and harassment4
Spam and misleading tricks4
Sponsored posts and ads4
Weapons4
AI-generated or altered media3
Dangerous stunts and challenges3
Engagement bait3
Misinformation3
Self-harm and eating disorders3
Swearing and crude language3
Copyrighted music2
Gambling2
Links to other sites2
Low quality and video format2
Other copyrighted material2
Politics and elections2
Privacy2
Scams and fraud2
Animal welfare1
Health claims1
Impersonation1
Violent extremism1
Other5
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The 20 rules that matter most
20 of the 88, the ones that hurt a creator most first, with a few of each kind.
What gets a video taken down
01RemovalNudity and sexual content
Sexual content or nudity meant to arouse
What triggers it: Genitals, breasts or buttocks (clothed or not) shown for sexual gratification, sexual acts, sex-toy use, fetish content, or non-consensual or voyeuristic sexual imagery, in the video, thumbnail, title or description.
“The depiction of clothed or unclothed genitals, breasts, or buttocks that are meant for sexual gratification.”
What triggers it: Custom thumbnail (or banner or other channel image) showing pornographic imagery, sexual acts, sex toys or fetish imagery, nudity including genitals, unwanted sexualization, violent imagery meant to shock, graphic blood or gore, or vulgar or lewd text.
“If your thumbnail contains pornography, we may terminate your channel. If your thumbnail violates other policies, we remove the thumbnail and may issue a strike against your account.”
Title or thumbnail promises what the video doesn't deliver
What triggers it: Title, thumbnail, description or imagery that tricks viewers into clicking on something the video does not contain, e.g. a 'full match' that is only a clip, or a person, event or claim in the thumbnail that never appears.
“Using maliciously misleading titles, thumbnails, descriptions, or imagery to trick users into clicking on a video that does not deliver what was promised.”
What triggers it: Get-rich-quick or investment schemes, fake job offers, fake 'customer support' contact details, or pretending to be a company or government to collect passwords, bank details or IDs (e.g. a 'free payout' link).
Mirrored, sped-up or cropped footage to dodge detection
What triggers it: Other people's TV, film or video footage that is flipped horizontally, sped up, heavily filtered or cropped to get past Content ID or abuse detection.
“Technical manipulation (such as speeding up audio, heavy filters, cropping) designed to bypass abuse detection.”
What triggers it: Content made solely to drive viewers off YouTube, especially to malware, adult content or illegal goods, e.g. a short teaser promising a 'free unreleased movie' at a link.
“Content created solely to drive users off of YouTube to external sites”
Link to porn, malware, piracy or other banned content
What triggers it: A URL in the video, description, title or pinned comment (clickable, shown as text, obfuscated like 'site dot com', or spoken) that leads to pornography, malware, phishing, pirated paid content, terrorist content, sellers of regulated goods, or other violating content.
“These links include: clickable URLs, showing text of URLs in videos or images, and obfuscated URLs”
What triggers it: Offering rewards for likes, comments, views or subscribers, 'sub4sub' schemes, promoting purchased views, or videos that exist only to farm engagement.
“Offering to subscribe to another creator’s channel only if they subscribe to your channel (“sub4sub”)”
What triggers it: Copying another creator's or company's name, branding, avatar or content to look like them (e.g. adding 'Official' or 'Real'), or using AI to copy someone's voice or likeness so the channel seems owned or authorised by them.
“Putting “Real” or “Official” into your channel name to pretend you are the authentic version of another person’s channel.”
What triggers it: Provocative dancing or fondling that invites sexual activity, poses meant to arouse, lingerie or clothing not acceptable in public, or shots focused on intimate areas.
“A video where the subject is in clothing that is considered unacceptable in public contexts, such as lingerie”
Borderline thumbnail: removed or video age-restricted
What triggers it: Thumbnail that is not a clear violation but is not for all audiences: breasts, buttocks or genitals as the focal point, a pose or clothing meant to arouse, violent or gory imagery as the focal point, text meant to be vulgar or to shock or disgust, or title or tags signalling intent to shock.
“When that happens, we may age-restrict the video, or we may remove the thumbnail, but we don’t issue a strike on your channel.”
What triggers it: Videos that feel interchangeable: same situation and outcome every time, image slideshows or scrolling text with little narrative, or AI content from generic templates with no creator insight.
“AI-generated content made with generic or unoriginal templates giving the impression of mass production without adding the creator’s original, authentic insights or perspective”
What triggers it: Repurposing others' content without significant commentary or editing: clip compilations, Shorts compiled from other social sites, song collections (even with permission), content uploaded many times by others, mostly non-verbal reactions, reading others' text, songs only pitch- or speed-shifted.
“This policy applies even if you have permission from the original creator.”
Shock-for-views or emotionally manipulative formulas
What triggers it: Repeated disturbing themes (violence, loss) without a cohesive story, animals in exaggerated distress or peril as a series, stitched unrelated AI clips meant to shock, or realistic fake visuals of a celebrity death or disaster.
“Channels that heavily rely on generic templates or emotionally manipulative themes, like a series showing repetitive scenarios of animals in exaggerated distress or peril”
What triggers it: AI-generated presenters or voices presented as human experts giving advice on health, legal issues, finances or politics (AI doctor, AI finance podcast host, AI lawyer).
“This includes any content that presents itself as a human expert providing advice to viewers on topics such as health, legal issues, finances, or politics.”
What triggers it: Made-for-kids videos that are heavily promotional (toy or food unboxing), encourage bad behaviour, are deceptively educational, are hard to follow (jumbled, mass-produced), are sensational or keyword-stuffed, or put kids' characters in strange or risky situations.
“If a channel is found to have a strong focus on low-quality “made for kids” content, it may be suspended from the YouTube Partner Program.”
What triggers it: Video that features minors or is uploaded by a minor, even if it breaks no rule, especially in risky contexts (bath, swimwear, bedroom, revealing personal details).
“Video recommendations (how and when your video is recommended)”
What triggers it: Any content that gets age-restricted (sexual suggestiveness, graphic violence, vulgar language, gambling, firearms use, cannabis or vape promotion, self-harm topics and similar).
“Age-restricted videos are not viewable to users who are under 18 years of age or signed out.”
What triggers it: A video that contains paid political promotion that counts as 'political advertising' under the EU Political Advertising Regulation 2024/900.
“Starting on October 10, 2025, creators must disclose if a video contains an EU political paid promotion, which will result in that video being unavailable to EU users.”
20Needs a disclosure labelAI-generated or altered media
Realistic AI content not disclosed
What triggers it: Realistic AI-generated or meaningfully AI-altered content: a real person appearing to say or do something they didn't, altered footage of a real event or place, a realistic scene that never happened, or AI-generated music.
“Creators who consistently choose not to disclose this information may be subject to manual application of a label, or penalties from YouTube, including removal of content or suspension from the YouTube Partner Program.”