It is often unclear what online service providers will do with your information when you share it. Is your data combined with other information to guess things about you? Is it sold to other companies that may share that information even if you did not want it to be shared? Read their terms of service and privacy policy to find out.

You can also install the addon/extension of Terms of Service; Didn't Read in your browser to see an overview of the terms of service for each commercial online service provider you use.

The more information about yourself you reveal online, the easier it becomes for others to identify you and monitor your activities. This can have consequences for anybody, across different regions. The family of an activists who has left their home country, for example, may be targeted by the authorities in their homelands because of things that activist has made publicly accessible online.

Hiding someone means their comments won't show on your channel, including on your comments page in YouTube Studio. It also prevents them from creating clips from your videos or live streams.

There is a possibility governments or police forces might buy advertising data from social media companies to target you and your network with disinformation, or try to find you.

Some online services keep track of things you have searched for within their sites and apps. If your account is compromised or your device is seized, your adversary could use this information against you, so it is a good idea to clear this history out regularly, or avoid saving it altogether, as well as clearing your browser history.

Social media sites may give your information, including information you were trying to keep private, to governments or law enforcement agencies if requested to do so. Look through the links in this section to learn more about the conditions under which they have provided or will provide such information.

Social media have unfortunately become a favorite method of harassment and disinformation worldwide. If you see malicious disinformation or hate speech, or if you or your colleagues are being targeted and harassed, you may find help by following YouTube's reporting procedures. Review the processes for reporting in the support pages linked in this section.

Human rights defenders, journalists, women and LGBTQI individuals are disproportionate targets of hate speech and trolling campaigns, often launched against them by coordinated groups of people. You could see this kind of attacks in particular in comments on YouTube, in the live chat while you're streaming on your channel or also in videos published on other channels and in comments to videos produced by someone else.

Attackers and comments can often be blocked and reported, but you can also prevent hateful comments and trolling through the settings of your channel, videos and streaming. You can for example hide certain users, or create a blocked words list to automatically hide comments that contain certain words and phrases. This section includes links to learn about all the functionalities you can use to moderate your live chat and comments to your videos.

Moderating a channel or a live chat may need a certain effort. If you are targeted by hate speech it's best to get help from a team of moderators so you don't have to manage everything on your own. Among other things, this can help you avoid burnout by taking a break while others moderate your channel.

Some abusers may try to target you by revealing information about where you live or work, your family or friends, or other personal details including images and videos. In many cases you have a right to have this content taken down, even if it is true. This section provides information on how to get that content removed.

Some harassment and disinformation is posted through automated means, rather than by individuals. If you suspect that you are seeing this "coordinated inauthentic activity," you can report it to the platform that is hosting this content and they may ban those automated systems. While automation can be hard to prove, there are some cases in which reporting coordinated inauthentic activity might be more successful than reporting harassment, if you suspect the online platform will not understand the context of the harassment.

Impersonation in the form of parody is usually accepted as free speech by most online platforms, and will not be removed. However, impersonation for the purposes of defamation of character may not be, and you can report it.

Any of us may find some content more distressing than other people do, whether it be information on the death of a friend, public arguments which devalue us because of who we are or frightening events in the news. If you need a break from this stress, this section lists some tools which can help hide content you do not wish to see, for as long as you wish.

For one reason or another, YouTube may disable (or "terminate") your account or channel or it can remove a video. Human rights defenders have sometimes had their accounts or channels shut down, for example because they were documenting human rights abuses with violent scenes that violated the platform's policies, because they had been reported by a government, by the police or by people who disagreed with them, or even because Google did not understand their context well enough to make sense of what they were posting. If this happens to you, you can appeal the decision and ask to have your account restored. Review the instructions linked in this section for information on how to do this.

If you want to stop people from commenting on your channel because you will not be able to access it for a while — for example because you need to take a break, but also because you suspect you may be detained or jailed — you can temporarily hide it. This can be useful also if you face harassment or defamation.