Frequently Asked Questions
What is YouTube's copyright policy?
We don't control the content on our site. Our users post the content on YouTube—including videos, comments, and ratings. Our community guidelines and clear messaging on the site make it clear that users must own or have permission from copyright holders to post any videos.
We take copyright issues very seriously. We prohibit users from uploading infringing material and we cooperate with copyright holders to identify and promptly remove infringing content.
How does YouTube handle inappropriate content (i.e. porn, graphic/violent images, etc)?
Our policy prohibits inappropriate content on YouTube. Our community understands the rules and effectively polices the site for inappropriate material. The users can flag content that they feel is inappropriate and once it is flagged, YouTube reviews the content and removes it from the system within minutes if it violates our Community Guidelines. This combined with our proprietary technology helps us to enforce the rules. We also disable the accounts of repeat offenders.
What are the criteria you use to establish what will be a featured video? Is it purely driven by the most-viewed/rated/discussed/etc, or are there other factors?
Videos that appear in the "Featured Videos" section on the home page are chosen through a variety of sources. While users can send videos to the YouTube editorial team for consideration, they also can rate and share videos to help make them popular on the site. Our editorial team reviews the videos users have made popular and features the most entertaining and compelling content on the home page.
What is the state of advertising on YouTube?
Marketers have embraced YouTube as a marketing platform and as an innovative and engaging vehicle for connecting with their target audiences. They are increasing sales and exposure for their companies and brands in many different ways. In some cases they run video advertising, like InVideo Ads or YouTube video ads, but they are also sponsoring contests, creating brand channels, and adding their own original content to the site.
What do marketers see as the greatest opportunity for advertising on YouTube?
YouTube is the world's largest online video community—marketers are excited by their ability to find virtually any audience they want to target and create innovative advertising and video content that allows the community to interact with their brand.
What does the acquisition by Google mean for the community?
YouTube's business was built, in large part, by our community. The user experience will not change—we are committed to our users and will continue to listen to our community's feedback. The community is still in control on YouTube, and, at the end of the day, they decide what's entertaining.
Our independence empowers us to continue to build the best, most entertaining video experience on the Internet. Google's resources and technology leadership will provide us with the flexibility to expand and improve that experience further.
Where is YouTube available?
YouTube is currently available in 19 regions across the globe and multiple languages.
Countries: United States, Japan, United Kingdom, Italy, Spain, Netherlands, Ireland, France, Poland, Brazil, Canada, Mexico, Australia, Hong Kong, Taiwan, New Zealand, Germany, Russia and Korea
Languages: English (US and UK), Japanese, Korean, Italian, French, Spanish, Dutch, Polish, Portuguese, Chinese (Traditional), German, Russian
We are currently focused on building out our product and service in the countries in which YouTube is currently available. We want to do more than simply translate the service and features into our users' native languages—we also want to contextualize and localize the features for each individual market. This takes time, but is very much in our plans, and we look forward to bringing YouTube to an even larger global audience in the near future.