Platforms

YouTube rules, fees and what gets you removed (2026)

checked 2026-10-08

How it works

Search and recommendations bring viewers. Money comes from the Partner Programme, so what YouTube counts as original matters. Mass-produced, repetitive or generic AI-template videos are ineligible for monetisation.

Who is there

Viewers who search for answers and stay for creators who clearly know the subject.

Can you automate it?

Careful, rules apply. Comments or likes by software need your explicit consent per action. The default quota is roughly 200 comments a day.

Good habits

• Show real creative input in every video
• Do not pose as an AI expert on health, law, money or politics

What gets accounts or listings removed

• Repetitive or mass-produced channels (policy renamed 'inauthentic content' on 15 Jul 2025)
• Automated or templated comments
• Fake engagement

What we saw ourselves

Our own 82 YouTube videos averaged 60 views, while TikTok carried about three quarters of our reach.

Ways to earn that use it

• Clip videos for pay-per-view campaigns (Whop Content Rewards) (Worth a try)
• Clip with AI tools for creator-run marketplaces (Vyro and similar) (Watch, not proven yet)
• Buying views or running networks of clip accounts (Do not start)
• Faceless video channel with your own scripts (YouTube first) (Worth a try)
• Mass-produced AI short-video channels (faceless shorts farms) (Do not start)
• Turn podcasts and long videos into short clips and posts for the owner (Worth a try)
• Run a channel with an AI character or AI voice (Watch, not proven yet)
• Short-video editing for small creators and local shops (Worth a try)

Recent changes

• 2026-09-14: YouTube's developer policies were updated: software must not automate or trigger views, uploads, comments or likes without the user's explicit consent for each action. Anything your AI helper does on YouTube is drafted for you and approved by you first.
• 2025-07-15: YouTube renamed 'repetitious content' to 'inauthentic content': mass-produced or generic AI-template channels cannot earn. A channel needs a visible human point of view in every video. Mass AI shorts channels are on the avoid list for this reason.

Sources

• https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/1311392
• https://developers.google.com/youtube/terms/developer-policies