Pornography: YouTube doesn't tolerate pornography or any sort of sexually explicit content. YouTube also points out that the company will report any videos of child exploitation to law enforcement if they are uploaded to the site.

       Illegal behavior: YouTube removes videos that show drug abuse, underage drinking or smoking, animal abuse, bomb-making, and a host of other illegal behaviors that people might (foolishly) want to document and share.

       Gratuitous violence: Videos that show people being attacked, hurt, or humiliated are also banned from the site.

       Hate speech: Videos that demean a group based on race, ethnic origin, disability, gender, age, or sexual orientation are removed if flagged by the community.

       Threats or harassment: Neither is YouTube a place for stalking, harassing, bullying, or predatory behavior. Content of this type will be removed.

       Spam: Videos with misleading titles, descriptions, thumbnails, or other metadata will be removed. Misleading means that the title doesn’t match the content of the video. A good example of a misleading title is “Miley Cyrus at my house,” when the video is actually about a cat riding a skateboard. It’s also unacceptable to post spam comments on videos — for example, asking people to subscribe to your channel or to visit your website if it has nothing to do with the video you’re commenting on. This typically leads to the comment being flagged as spam, and this makes it invisible to other viewers.

       Copyrighted material: You should only upload content that you own or have the appropriate licensing rights to use. Though the other community guidelines are important to the smooth functioning of the YouTube community, the copyright restriction is hugely important to YouTube as a business. (See Chapter 16 for more information on copyright.)

       Private information: Do not post anyone’s personal information without their consent and explicit approval. Content featuring personal information will be removed at the request of the affected individual.

       Impersonating others: Copying another channel’s layout/appearance or uploading content with the intent of making it look like someone else’s are both against the rules and will result in the removal of videos and/or disciplinary action being taken against your account.

       Exploitation of children/minors: YouTube takes content involving minors very seriously. Bullying, harassing, sexualizing, exploiting, misleading, or making any other any other attempt to harm children is explicitly forbidden from YouTube and will be removed.