Report inappropriate content

We rely on YouTube community members to report, or flag content that they find inappropriate. Reporting content is anonymous, so other users can't tell who made the report.

When something is reported, it’s not automatically taken down. Reported content is reviewed along the following guidelines:

Content that violates our Community Guidelines is removed from YouTube.
Content that may not be appropriate for younger audiences may be age-restricted.

The Life of a Flag

How to flag content

Report a video

YouTube staff review reported videos 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. A video can be reported at any time once uploaded to YouTube. If our review team has not found any violations, no amount of reporting will change that and the video will remain on our site.

Go to the video you'd like to report.
Tap More at the top of the video.
Tap Report .
Select the reason for reporting.

Report a playlist

You can report a playlist if its content, title, description or tags violate our Community Guidelines.

Sign in to YouTube.
Go to the playlist page.
Tap More at the top right of the screen.
Select Report Playlist.
Select Submit.

Report a thumbnail

You can report a video thumbnail that you see in your feed.

Go to the thumbnail you'd like to report.
Below the thumbnail, tap More .
Tap Report.
Select the reason for reporting.
Tap Report.

Report a comment

The "Report spam or abuse" link allows the community to report spam comments left on videos they upload or watch. If enough users mark a comment as spam, it becomes hidden under a "Marked as Spam" link. By clicking the "Show link" you can see the comment again. The video's uploader can "unmark" a comment as spam.

Go to the comment you'd like to report.
Tap More below the comment.
Tap Report.
Select the reason for reporting.

Use the "Report spam or abuse" feature with extreme caution. If you misuse it, you may be prohibited from using YouTube.

My comment was marked as spam incorrectly

If you believe a comment you made was marked as spam but you don't believe it to be, you can get in touch with the video's uploader and ask them to reinstate your comment.

Report a live chat message

Community members can report inappropriate messages left on live streams.

Go to the message you'd like to report.
Tap More below the comment.
Tap Report.
Select the reason for reporting.

Report a channel

To report a channel, you must do so on a computer. Click the Computer tab and follow the instructions under “Report a channel”.

Report an ad

If you see an ad that is inappropriate or even violates Google’s ad policies, you can report it.

To report the ad, select Info on the ad then Why this ad Report this ad, or choose to fill out and submit this form. Our team will then review your ad report and take action if appropriate.

Reporting ads is only available on YouTube mobile and desktop.

Report content on YouTube on TV

You can report a video directly from the YouTube on TV app.

Select Report on the video player Menu.
A menu will appear to select the reason for reporting the video.
Once you select the reason, you'll see a confirmation message.

Other reporting options

If the reporting process does not accurately capture your issue, we have other reporting mechanisms for you to use.

Privacy reporting

To file a privacy complaint, start the privacy complaint process. Your privacy is always respected in this process.

Legal reporting

To report a legal issue on behalf of yourself or your client:

Go to the watch page of the video you'd like to report.
Under the video, click the three dot Menu.
Click Report.
Select "Infringes my rights".
Select the relevant issue. If your issue isn't captured, select "Other legal claim".
Fill out the form and submit.

To expedite our ability to investigate your claim, we encourage you to submit your claim using our webform, rather than by fax or post.

Note that abuse of our legal forms may result in the termination of your YouTube account.

Moment of death or critical injury footage

We attempt to respect the wishes of families in regards to footage of their loved ones being critically injured. If you've identified content showing a family member during the moment of death/critical injury, and you wish to request content removal, use our webform.

Requests are carefully reviewed, but keep in mind that we take public interest and newsworthiness into account when figuring out whether content will be removed or not.

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