Protecting creators, viewers, and especially minors is a major priority on YouTube. Everyone using the platform shares responsibility for helping maintain a safe environment. Understanding YouTube’s Community Guidelines is important to ensure that content involving children and family audiences remains appropriate and safe.
YouTube does not allow content that puts minors at risk emotionally, physically, or sexually. A minor is defined as anyone under the age of 18.
Content aimed at children or families that includes mature themes such as sexual material, graphic violence, obscenity, or other inappropriate subjects may also violate policy. Creators should ensure that their titles, descriptions, tags, and audience settings accurately reflect the intended audience for their content.
In some cases, educational, documentary, scientific, artistic, or public-interest content may receive exceptions when handled responsibly and with proper context.
If you encounter content that appears to endanger minors, it can be reported. Situations involving immediate danger should also be reported to local law enforcement.
What This Means for Creators
Creators should avoid posting content that includes or promotes any of the following:
Sexualization of Minors
Any sexual or exploitative content involving minors is strictly prohibited. This includes:
- Sexually suggestive depictions of minors
- Minor nudity intended as humor or entertainment
- Content created for sexual gratification involving minors
- Aggregated or edited content designed to sexualize children
Material involving child sexual abuse imagery may be reported directly to organizations working with law enforcement internationally.
Harmful or Dangerous Acts Involving Minors
Content showing minors participating in dangerous activities, or encouraging young viewers to imitate harmful behavior, is not allowed.
Examples may include minors:
- Consuming alcohol, tobacco, vaping products, or drugs
- Handling firearms without proper supervision
- Participating in dangerous stunts, dares, or challenges
- Misusing fireworks or hazardous materials
Content involving emotional abuse, humiliation, coercion, neglect, or distress toward children may also violate policy.
Misleading Family Content
Content targeting children or families cannot include mature or disturbing themes inappropriate for young audiences.
This may include:
- Sexual content or suggestive themes
- Graphic violence or horror
- Obscene or disturbing material
- Self-harm themes
- Adult horror characters presented to children
- Medical or graphic procedures presented in a shocking way
Family-oriented cartoons or animated videos containing adult themes such as sex, drugs, violence, or death may also violate policy, especially when labeled as child-friendly.
Creators should ensure that audience settings, titles, descriptions, and tags accurately reflect the intended viewers. Mature content intended for adults should be age-restricted when appropriate.
Cyberbullying, Harassment, and Doxxing of Minors
YouTube prohibits content that targets minors through harassment or exploitation, including:
- Shaming or humiliating children
- Sharing personal information such as addresses, emails, or phone numbers
- Encouraging bullying or harassment
- Sexualizing minors in comments, posts, or videos
These protections apply across videos, livestreams, comments, playlists, posts, and other platform features, including external links shared in content.
Age-Restricted Content
Some content may remain on the platform but receive age restrictions if it contains:
- Dangerous activities that viewers could imitate
- Adult themes in family-style content
- Excessive profanity or sexually explicit language
Content featuring minors may also have certain platform features disabled for safety reasons, including:
- Comments
- Live chat
- Livestreaming access
- Video recommendations
- Remixing features
Livestreams featuring minors under 16 without visible adult supervision may be removed or restricted.
Best Practices for Protecting Minors
Creators are encouraged to carefully consider how children are shown online. Recommended safety practices include:
- Ensuring minors are supervised by adults
- Showing children participating in age-appropriate activities
- Avoiding revealing or overly mature clothing
- Using privacy settings when appropriate
- Avoiding the disclosure of personal information
- Avoiding content filmed in highly private settings such as bedrooms or bathrooms
Creators should also avoid content that may attract harmful attention toward minors, including suggestive performances, risky challenges, or emotionally distressing situations.
Examples of Violations
Examples of content that may violate this policy include:
- Videos sexualizing minors through dares, challenges, or suggestive behavior
- Dangerous stunts involving children and weapons, substances, or explosives
- Family cartoons labeled for children but containing adult themes
- Encouraging minors to engage in risky or harmful behavior
- Content simulating parental abuse, abandonment, or humiliation
- Predatory communication involving minors
- Compilations of children’s content intended for sexual gratification
These examples are illustrative and not comprehensive.
What Happens if the Policy Is Violated
Content that violates child safety policies may be removed, and creators may receive warnings, strikes, age restrictions, or channel termination depending on severity.
First-time violations often result in a warning, and some creators may be eligible for policy training that allows the warning to expire after 90 days. Repeated violations within that timeframe may lead to strikes.
Channels receiving three strikes within 90 days may be terminated. Severe violations, repeated abuse, or content involving predatory behavior may result in immediate removal or permanent account suspension.
YouTube states that it has zero tolerance for predatory behavior involving minors and may cooperate with law enforcement when child safety concerns arise.
