YouTube Removes Over 2.2 Million Videos in India for Community Norm Violations

In the latest crackdown on content violations, YouTube has removed more than 2.25 million videos in India between October and December 2023. The staggering number places India at the top of the list of video takedowns, surpassing other nations like the United States and Russia.

According to YouTube’s data on video removals by country/region, Singapore follows closely behind with 1,243,871 video takedowns, ranking second on the list. Meanwhile, the United States secured the third position with 788,354 videos removed during the same period.

Indonesia and Russia also witnessed significant video removals, with 770,157 and 516,629 takedowns, respectively, as per YouTube’s Community Guidelines Enforcement report.

Globally, YouTube removed over 9 million videos for violating community norms during the last quarter of 2023. Surprisingly, more than 96% of these removals were initiated by machines rather than humans, indicating the efficiency of automated flagging systems.

The removed videos violated various community guidelines, including parameters related to harmful or dangerous content, child safety, violent or graphic content, nudity and sexual content, misinformation, and others.

Specifically in India, over 2.25 million videos were removed for violating YouTube’s community guidelines, making it the country with the highest number of video removals among 30 countries listed in the report.

Globally, YouTube terminated 20.5 million channels for violating community guidelines during the same quarter. When a channel is terminated, all of its videos are removed. This resulted in the removal of 95.5 million videos due to channel-level termination.

YouTube explained that a channel is terminated if it accrues three community guidelines strikes in 90 days, engages in severe abuse such as predatory behavior, or is determined to be wholly dedicated to violating the guidelines, such as spam accounts.

As part of its commitment to maintaining a safe and vibrant community, YouTube has strict Community Guidelines that prohibit pornography, incitement to violence, harassment, or hate speech. The platform relies on a combination of technology and human moderators to flag inappropriate content and enforce these guidelines, ensuring a positive user experience for all.