Privacy and safety settings
Protecting your privacy
If someone has posted your personal information or uploaded a video of you without your consent, start by contacting the uploader and asking them to remove the content.
If you can’t reach an agreement with the uploader, or if you are uncomfortable contacting them, you can request removal of content based on our Privacy Guidelines.
For content to be considered for removal, an individual must be uniquely identifiable. When assessing if an individual is uniquely identifiable, we consider the following factors:
- Your image or voice
- Full name
- Financial information
- Contact information
- Other personally identifiable information
When you report a privacy complaint, we consider public interest, newsworthiness, and consent as factors in our final decision. Check out our Privacy Guidelines for a more detailed explanation of our privacy complaint process and the factors we take into account when evaluating privacy claims.
Tips on how to protect your privacy on YouTube:
- Think carefully before you post personal information. This includes things like the town you live in, where you go to school, or your home address.
- Protect your account data and don’t share your password with others. YouTube employees will never ask you for your password. Don’t be fooled if someone contacts you pretending to be from YouTube.
- Get permission first. As a rule of thumb, you should get permission before filming other people or posting their personal information.
- Visit our Privacy and Safety Settings page for a list of tools that you can use to manage your content and experience on the site.
Harassment and cyberbullying
We want you to use YouTube without fear of being subjected to malicious harassment. In cases where harassment crosses the line into a malicious attack it can be reported and will be removed. In other cases, users may be mildly annoying or petty and should simply be ignored.
Harassment may include :
- Abusive videos, comments, messages
- Revealing someone’s personal information
- Maliciously recording someone without their consent
- Deliberately posting content in order to humiliate someone
- Making hurtful and negative comments/videos about another person
- Unwanted sexualization, which encompasses sexual harassment or sexual bullying in any form
Tips and advice :
- Pause before you post: Think seriously about how you may be perceived online and do not post anything that may compromise your reputation or safety.
- Speak up: Tell friends to stop cyberbullying and voice your opinion against cyberbullying when you see it on the site.
- Tell an adult if you remain concerned about another’s actions towards you online.
- Try deleting comments and blocking the user if another user is bothering you, so they can’t view your videos or leave more comments. You can also turn comments off for any video or manage comments by requiring pre-approval before they get posted.
- Respect people’s opinions online but know when it crosses the line. We want YouTube to be a dynamic and expressive platform but we do not want users to feel intimidated or threatened.
- Report harassing users and content via YouTube’s reporting tool.
To learn about tools available to you to help you manage your experience on the site, especially abusive users, please visit our Privacy and safety settings page.
Sometimes criticism and insults can escalate into more serious forms of harassment and cyberbullying. If specific threats are made against you and you feel unsafe, tell a trusted adult and report it to your local law enforcement agency.
Suicide and self injury
You’re not alone. Need support? For free, confidential 24/7 support in the U.S.:
The trained counselors at the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline are available 24/7. The call is free and confidential. To learn more about the Lifeline, visit www.suicidepreventionlifeline.org.
Text: WELL to 741-741
Text with a trained crisis counselor through Crisis Text Line. Anonymous, free emotional support available 24/7. To learn more visit www.crisistextline.org.
The website www.befrienders.org has an extensive list of suicide prevention organizations dedicated to helping those in need. Please visit this site if you are looking to talk with someone about your issues. Google’s Good to Know also has an extensive list of local organizations that can help.
Concerned for someone else?
If you come across content in which someone is suicidal or engaging in self harm, please contact local authorities andflag the video to bring it to our immediate attention. We reach out to these individuals with resources and work with suicide prevention agencies to provide assistance when possible.
Learn: Visit www.selfinjury.com. S.A.F.E Alternatives is a network and educational resource base committed to helping end self-injurious behavior.
Visit www.sioutreach.org. SiOS is an outreach initiative providing information and resources about self-injury to those who self-injure, those who have recovered, and those who want to help.
Parent resources
We understand that parents and guardians sometimes have questions about children’s behavior online. We’ve put together some tools and resources to help you manage your family’s experience on YouTube.
What age does my child need to be to use YouTube?
In order to create a YouTube account, you must confirm that you’re at least 13 years old. If a video gets flagged and we find that the the uploader inaccurately stated their age during the account creation process, we will terminate their account.
Tips and advice
We ask all of our members to review our Community Guidelines, as they outline what content and behavior is acceptable on YouTube.
Online safety tips for families from Google and Common Sense Media:
- Have your teenagers make playlists of their favorite videos, while you make your own. Then sit down to watch them together. You can see what your teens are watching, and they might learn a thing or two about you.
- Take your teens on a stroll through your own TV-watching childhood by compiling a playlist of clips from your favorite shows.
- Make watching YouTube a game : Guess what kinds of videos are popular in a particular place and then use Advanced Search to see videos only in that location. It’s a great way to have a conversation with your teens about cultural assumptions, tastes, similarities, and differences.
Tools
- Inappropriate content: If you see a video that you feel is inappropriate or which may violate our Community Guidelines,flag the video. This is the fastest way to bring potentially inappropriate content to our attention. YouTube policy specialists review flagged videos 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
- Privacy: If you feel that your child’s privacy has been violated (e.g. use of image or personal information without consent), please visit our Privacy Guidelines, where you can learn more about our privacy policy and how to file aprivacy complaint. Visit the Privacy section of our Safety Center to learn even more.
- Harassment and cyberbullying:
- If your teen is being harassed by someone on YouTube, direct them to block the user. This will help prevent further communication from the unwanted user.
- If the harassment persists, please review the harassment article within our Safety Center for harassment prevention information.
- If you or your teen wish to report harassment in videos, channels/profiles or comments, you may do so via ourreporting tool.
- Restricted Mode: Enabling this setting allows you to specify that you do not want to see potentially objectionable content on YouTube. Learn more about Restricted Mode.
- Moderating channel comments: There are tools available that allow your child to remove comments posted on their channel, or moderate them before they appear on your channel. To learn more read our article on moderating channel comments.
- Visit your teens’ channel: Take a look at what your teen is posting on their channel. Check out their favorites and which YouTube channels they are subscribed to. Favorites and subscriptions can give you clues about what they are watching on the site.
- Privacy and safety settings: YouTube has a range of tools and settings help users manage their experience on the site. To learn more about the the resources that are available to your teen please visit our privacy and safety settings page.
Educator resources
If you’re an educator, you may be interested in using YouTube’s educational content. Here are some resources to help empower you and your students to stay safe online.
For exciting lessons and educational resources, visit youtube.com/teachers, youtube.com/education, andyoutube.com/schools.
Use video in the classroom
YouTube does not own the content posted to the site and is therefore not in a position to grant you permission to use it. Only the actual owner of the content can grant such permission. To get in touch with the owner of a video, click on their channel. From there, you’ll be able to send them a note requesting permission by using our private messaging system.
Teach students how to stay safe
The YouTube Digital Citizenship Curriculum is an online education initiative. In a few short lessons, teachers in secondary level education can educate students (age 13+) on topics such as:
- YouTube’s policies
- How to report content on YouTube
- How to protect privacy online
- How to be responsible YouTube community members
- How to be engaged digital citizens
Watch the video below to learn more;
Get started with the YouTube Curriculum today!
Avoid potentially objectionable content
You may want to enable Restricted Mode, a feature that lets you specify that you don’t want to see potentially objectionable content on YouTube
Reporting
- Inappropriate content: If you see a video that you feel is inappropriate, flag the video. This is the fastest way to bring potentially inappropriate content to our attention. YouTube policy specialists review flagged videos 24 hrs a day, 7 days a week.
- Privacy: If you encounter a video that you believe violates the privacy of a student, fellow teacher, or school employee, please direct them or their parent to our Privacy Guidelines and privacy complaint process. For privacy complaints, we will remove content only if the individual(s) featured are clearly identifiable. Visit the Privacy section of our Safety Center to learn even more.
- Harassment: Only a parent or legal guardian may file a complaint on behalf of a child. Our Harassment and cyberbullying article contains resources you can reference if a student or teacher has concerns about harassment on YouTube.
Teen safety
Teens are an important part of the YouTube community. Here are some useful tools and friendly tips for staying safe on YouTube.
- Know what type of content to film: When filming videos of your friends, classmates, or other minors, remember that they should never be sexually suggestive, violent, or dangerous.
- Remember “The Grandma Rule”: Is what you’re filming or posting something you’d want your grandmother, boss, future employer, parents, or future in-laws to see? If not, it’s probably not a great idea to post it.
- Once a video has been posted online, you never know who might see it. If it’s copied or reposted, you might not be able to remove every copy.
- Prevent dangerous or uncomfortable situations: Don’t post something just because someone else asked you to. Also, please don’t try to meet anyone you have “met” online without consulting with a trusted adult first.
- Use YouTube’s privacy features: YouTube has features to help you limit who can see the videos you post. Protect your privacy by setting personal videos to ‘private’ or ‘unlisted.’
- Visit our Privacy and safety settings page to explore some of the tools available to help you manage your experience on the site.
If you’re a teacher or parent, please see our parent resources and educator resources. For more information on Internet safety, see these Google Tips for Online Safety.
Please note, children under 13 years are not permitted to set up a YouTube account.
To report harassment, threats, impersonation and bullying, please visit our reporting tool If you see a video that contains inappropriate content, please flag it.
Disable or enable Restricted Mode
Restricted Mode is an opt-in setting available on the computer and mobile site that helps screen out potentially objectionable content that you may prefer not to see or don’t want others in your family to stumble across while enjoying YouTube. You can think of this as a parental control setting for YouTube.
Computers found in libraries, universities and other public institutions may have Restricted Mode enabled by the system administrator. If you are using a public computer and can not disable Restricted Mode, contact your system administrator.
Enable or disable Restricted Mode :
- Scroll to the bottom of any YouTube page and click the drop-down menu in the “Restricted Mode” section.
- Select the On or Off option to enable or disable this feature.
Lock Restricted Mode:
If you wish for Restricted Mode to stay enabled for anyone using this browser, you must lock Restricted Mode.
- Sign in to your YouTube account.
- Scroll to the bottom of any YouTube page and click the drop-down menu in the “Restricted Mode” section.
- Click “Lock Restricted Mode on this browser.”
- Enter in your password again to lock Restricted Mode on this browser.
Turn Restricted Mode off:
- Scroll to the bottom of any YouTube page and click “Restricted Mode: On”.
- Next, click the “off” option.
- If you’ve locked Restricted Mode, you’ll be prompted to login and enter your username and password to confirm that you’d like to turn off Restricted Mode.
- Once you’ve successfully logged in, scroll to the bottom of the page to turn Restricted Mode off.
Stuck in Restricted Mode even after attempting to disable?
If you’ve entered your username and password and Restricted Mode remains enabled, then you may wish to contact your system administrator for additional assistance.
Restricted Mode is available on our mobile site.
- Touch the YouTube logo on the top left to expand the menu.
- Touch the gear icon to enter the settings menu.
- Touch the “Restricted Mode” section to enable or disable this feature.
- Touch
Menu > Settings > General - Under Restricted mode tick the checkbox to enable this feature.
Menu > Settings > General
- Expand the menu in the top left.
- Touch the gear symbol to enter the settings menu.
- Select “Restricted Mode Filtering”.
- You can choose between strict or no filtering.
Note: This only turns on Restricted Mode on your Android TV.
- From the Home screen, scroll down to the Apps row.
- Find and select YouTube.
- Scroll down to Settings
on the left. - Select Restricted Mode.
on the left.
- Select Enabled or Disabled.
How Restricted Mode works :
While it’s not 100 percent accurate, we use community flagging, age-restrictions, and other signals to identify and filter out inappropriate content.
Restricted Mode is enabled on a browser or device level, so you must enable it for each browser you use on your computer. If your browser supports multiple profiles you must enable it for each profile.
Once enabled, Restricted Mode will remain on regardless of whether you are logged in or not, or if another person is logged into a different YouTube account.
If you remain logged in to the YouTube account which locked Restricted Mode other users of the computer will be able to adjust this setting. To ensure that this lock is not tampered with, you will have to logout of the account that enabled Restricted Mode.
Restricted Mode availability :
Restricted Mode is available in all languages. The quality and cultural sensitivities vary at different levels. We will continue to roll out improvements in all languages.
Additional resources
Phishing
Phishing is the process of tricking someone into giving up their personal information such as credit card numbers, social security/national ID numbers, or other financial data. Usually when they have that information, they’ll then use it to steal your money, property or identity.
Remember, YouTube will never ask you for your password, email address, or other account information. Don’t be fooled if someone contacts you pretending to be from YouTube!
If you find videos on YouTube that you think might be spam or phishing, please flag them for review by the YouTube team.For more information on spam and phishing please visit the National Cyber Security Alliance.
If you’re concerned that your YouTube account may have been compromised, please visit the following page.
Account Security
YouTube takes appropriate security measures to protect against unauthorized access to the information we store. Please read the YouTube Privacy Policy for more information.
Please keep in mind that it is up to you to keep your password secure. You should NEVER share your password with others.
Keep your account safe:
We’ve created an easy-to-use checklist to help you secure your computer, browser, Gmail, and Google Account. We encourage you to go through the entire checklist, but want to highlight the following steps that can help you keep your YouTube channel secure.
- Add a recovery phone number and secondary secure email to your YouTube account. Not having both a phone number and a secure email means your account could be accessed by someone who knows or guesses the answer to your security question. You can update security information here.
- Keep your recovery information secure and up-to-date.
- Create a unique, strong password for your Google Account (and don’t use the same login and password for other sites). Here are some tips to help you create a strong password:
- Your password should be at least eight characters in length, combine numbers and letters, and not include commonly used words.
- Select a word or acronym and insert numbers between some of the letters.
- Include punctuation marks.
- Mix capital and lowercase letters.
- Don’t reuse passwords associated with any other type of account.
- If your account has been set up for a company or organization review and update your password and recovery information when a staffer leaves your company.
If you feel your account has been compromised, you can report it here.
Google Good to Know
Understand your data on Google and on the web. Avail of some advice and tips for controlling your data and staying secure online.
http://www.google.com/goodtoknow/
YouTube Digital Citizenship Curriculum
An interactive and user-friendly curriculum aimed at teachers and secondary schools students. Learn about privacy on YouTube, policy and how to be a responsible cyber citizen in a few short lessons.
http://www.google.com/edu/teachers/youtube/curric/
Google Family Safety Center
Tips and advice for keeping your family safe online
http://www.google.com/goodtoknow/familysafety/
For more information on Multi Channel Network’s and YouTube how to videos please check back weekly or subscribe here.
