Staying safe on YouTube: Policies and tools for creators
YouTube is a place where people come to share their story, express an opinion and engage with one another. We want to make sure that creators and viewers feel safe doing so. While the majority of YouTube's creators and viewers want to share, learn and connect, we know there are instances of abuse, or even harassment. Learn more about the policies and tools that are in place to protect you on YouTube below.
Policies on hate and harassment
YouTube has specific policies to help protect against hate and harassment.
- Hate speech: This policy protects specific groups and members of those groups. We consider content hate speech when it incites hatred or violence against groups based on protected attributes. Learn more about our hate speech policy.
- Harassment: This policy protects specific individuals. We consider content to be harassment when it targets an individual with prolonged or malicious insults based on intrinsic attributes, including their protected group status or physical traits. This also includes harmful behaviour such as threats, bullying, doxxing or encouraging abusive fan behaviour. Learn more about our harassment policy.
To learn more about YouTube's policies, take a look at our full list of Community Guidelines.
Tools to protect yourself
We take protecting creators, artists and users on YouTube seriously. That's why we encourage you to use the various tools listed below to help support you in feeling safe while using YouTube.
Report inappropriate or abusive content or users
- Report abuse and inappropriate content
- Report a privacy violation
- Report impersonations of you or your channel
Block inappropriate or abusive comments, content or users
- Block commenters
- Block specific words in comments
- Hold comments for review
- Block other viewers on live chat
Keep your account secure
- Secure the Google Account linked to your YouTube channel
- Delete or hide your YouTube channel
- Add or remove access to your YouTube channell
- YouTube privacy guidelines
Note: If you're concerned that your account has been hacked, hijacked or compromised, follow these steps to Secure your YouTube account.
For more tips and videos that can help you feel safer on YouTube, visit the Creator Safety Centre.