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 ensure 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 in place to protect you on YouTube below.
Policies on hate & 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 such as age, gender, race, caste, religion, sexual orientation, or veteran status. Learn more on our hate speech policy .
- Harassment: This policy protects specific individuals. We consider content 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 behavior such as threats, bullying, doxxing, or encouraging abusive fan behavior. Learn more on our harassment policy .
To learn more about YouTube’s policies, check out 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 channe l
- 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 .
Trusted partner resources for online safety (US Only)
For more tips and videos that can help you feel safer on YouTube, visit the Creator Safety Center .
