YouTube’s strengthened approach to online gambling and graphic violence in gaming
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YouTube has announced that it will strengthen enforcement of its community guidelines on violent gaming and online gambling content, starting on 17 November.
“Starting on November 17th, 2025, we’ll be strengthening enforcement of our Community Guidelines around online gambling and graphic violence in gaming.
“Our policies are designed to evolve alongside the digital world. We’re making these updates to keep pace with new trends, like gambling with digital goods, and to more closely align our guidelines for mature content with industry standards.
Here’s a Summary of What’s Changing:
Online Gambling Content
“Our current policy prohibits content that directs viewers to online gambling sites or applications that are not certified by Google. We’re expanding our enforcement to now cover online gambling with additional items that have monetary value, including digital goods (e.g. video game skins, cosmetics and NFTs).”
Social Casino Content
“We’re updating our approach to casino-style games where nothing of real-world monetary value is wagered or cashed out. Content that depicts, promotes, or facilitates social casino sites will now be age-restricted.”
Graphic Gaming Content
“In addition to our existing guidelines around graphic gaming content, we will age-restrict an additional small subset of video game content featuring realistic human characters that focuses on scenes of torture or scenes of mass violence against non-combatants. We’ll consider several factors when reviewing this type of content such as:
• Duration – If the graphic scene is sustained (rather than fleeting). For compilation videos, we’ll now consider the cumulative duration of all of the graphic clips combined.
• Prominence – If the violent imagery is zoomed-in or the main focus of the scene
• Realistic human characters – If the violence is happening to a character that looks like a real human.”
“We expect most channels will experience little to no impact but we know this is a lot of information, and we want to ensure you have time to adapt.
Existing videos. Content uploaded before November 17, 2025, that violates these guidelines may be removed or age-restricted, but will not result in a strike. Remember, age-restricted videos can stay on your channel for 18+ audiences.”
“Making edits: For creators who have content that’s in-scope of these updates, you may be able to edit your video description or use our video editor trim or blur tools to make any necessary changes before November 17, 2025.
Notifications: If we age-restrict or remove your content, we’ll notify you by email. If you disagree with the decision, you can always choose to appeal.”
The post YouTube’s strengthened approach to online gambling and graphic violence in gaming appeared first on European Gaming Industry News.
