Link to porn, malware, piracy or other banned content
YouTube may take the video down.
Last verified
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.
What YouTube says
“These links include: clickable URLs, showing text of URLs in videos or images, and obfuscated URLs”
We last checked this against YouTube's page on .
How to fix it
Remove links to adult subscription sites, piracy, unverified shops and shorteners; use direct links to well-known domains.
Good to know
Link shorteners and obscure redirect domains are a risk on their own: links YouTube can't verify as safe may be removed. Encouraging viewers to visit a profile on another site that hosts violating content counts too.
Can FYProof spot it?
A full check of your video looks for it in what's said, the words on screen and the caption. What a check finds is an estimate, not a guarantee.
- Video: not for this rule
- Speech: looked at for this rule
- On-screen text: looked at for this rule
- Caption: looked at for this rule
- Hashtags: not for this rule
Related YouTube rules
Platforms change their rules often. This page sums up what YouTube publishes; it isn't legal advice.