What is YouTube's reused content policy?
Last verified August 20, 2026 · re-checked weekly · answered from 3 verified rules
YouTube treats re-posting other people's material without adding anything of your own as scraped content under its spam policy. Two separate consequences follow: monetization requires significant original commentary, modification, or educational value, and the spam policy is enforced by strike - three within 90 days can end the channel. Retitling or re-thumbnailing counts as adding nothing.
Two policies, two different penalties
People usually discuss this as one rule, but it is two, and they bite differently. The monetization side asks whether a video earns; the spam side asks whether the channel survives.
Confusing them leads to the wrong fix. Restoring monetization is an editorial change to future uploads. A scraped-content strike is a channel-level risk on a 90-day clock.
- Monetization: reused content earns only with significant original commentary, modification, or educational value added
- Spam policy: re-posting with nothing of your own is scraped content, enforced by strike
- Three strikes within 90 days may terminate the channel
What does not count as adding something
The documented bar is transformation, and metadata is not transformation. Changing the title, the description, or the thumbnail does nothing for either policy, because none of it changes what the viewer watches.
Compilations are the case people most often get wrong. A compilation with no original content added is still reused content no matter how much work went into selecting the clips.
What does count
Original commentary, genuine re-editing, and educational or entertainment value are the three named routes. The practical test is whether someone who had already seen the source material would still get something from your version.
The inauthentic content policy adds a second axis: the substance of each video has to be materially varied, not just the intro, outro, or template. Reused content and inauthentic content are separate policies, and a channel can fall foul of one while clearing the other.
- Original commentary over the material, not alongside it
- Genuine re-editing - new structure, not new metadata
- Educational or entertainment value the source did not have
- Substance that varies between your own videos, not just the wrapper
What this answer is based on
Re-posting without adding anything is spam
DistributionReused-content recovery bar: transformation, not metadata
Monetization & AIYPP inauthentic-content rule (renamed July 15, 2025)
Monetization & AIFull text and guidance for each of these rules is on the YouTube rules page.
Related questions
What is YouTube's reused content policy?
It requires that repurposed material - clips, compilations, reactions, commentary - carries significant original commentary, modification, or educational value. Without that, it is not monetizable, and re-posting with nothing added is classed as scraped content under the spam policy.
Can reused content be monetized on YouTube?
Only with substantial transformation. The documented bar is significant original commentary, modifications, or educational and entertainment value. Changing the title, description, or thumbnail alone does not meet it.
Will reused content get my channel terminated?
It can. Re-posting material without adding anything of your own falls under the spam and deceptive practices policy, which is enforced by strike, and three strikes within 90 days may terminate the channel. That is a heavier consequence than demonetization.
Are compilation videos allowed on YouTube?
They are allowed but not monetizable with no original content added, and they carry scraped-content risk if nothing of your own goes on top. Commentary, teaching, or genuine re-editing is what moves a compilation over the bar.
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