YouTube API Services Terms of Service - Revision History

This page provides a revision history for the following documents:

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Note that, in all cases, the legal documents themselves are the authoritative source of information.

June 1, 2026

Updated the Additional policies on derived metrics and data storage to clarify that if your use case is accepted for additional derived metrics, you may store some statistical data for a duration beyond 30 days.

May 4, 2026

Added the Additional policies on derived metrics and data storage. These policies are only applicable to audited developers with analytics use cases that have explicitly applied for permission to create additional metrics (such as custom scores, earnings estimates, suitability scoring etc.) and/or store statistical data through the standard quota extension request form (starting June 1, 2026).

July 7, 2025

Added API Client Identity and Credentials to the YouTube embedded player section of Required Minimum Functionality. This new content clarifies API Client identification requirements and guidelines when using the embedded player. Similar guidelines within Complying with YouTube's Developer Policies were also consolidated.

January 23, 2025

References to the "Android Player API" have been removed from the Developer Policies and the Required Minimum Functionality. The Android Player API was deprecated in 2023 and is no longer available.

July 12, 2022

Section 4 of the YouTube API Terms of Service has been updated to clarify when and why registration data may be retained.

June 2, 2022

Added Section III.I.21 to the Developer Policies. The updated policy explains usage of the YouTube player in nested iframe scenarios. Specifically, the YouTube player must not be situated in a nested or hierarchical iframe lineage to circumvent YouTube policies or otherwise obfuscate the source of use.

July 1, 2021

All developers using YouTube's API Services must complete an API Compliance Audit in order to be granted more than the default quota allocation of 10,000 units. To date, both the compliance audit process and requests for additional quota unit allocations have been conducted by developers filling out and submitting the YouTube API Services - Audit and Quota Extension Form.

To clarify these processes and better meet the needs of developers using our API Services, we are adding three new forms and a guide to completing those forms:

  • Audit and Quota Extension Form: Developers who have already passed an API Compliance Audit can fill out and submit this form (selecting "Complete a compliance audit to keep current quota (requested to complete re-audit)" in the first question) to request an allocated quota extension.
  • Appeals Form: Developers whose API projects have failed a compliance audit (or been denied a quota unit increase) can fill out and submit this form.
  • Change of Control Form: Developers, or any party operating an API client on a developer's behalf, who experience a change of control (for example, through a stock purchase or sale, merger or other form of corporate transaction) associated with an API project must fill out and submit this form. This enables YouTube's API team to update our records, audit the new API project's use case compliance, and validate the developer's current quota allocation.

Each new form will inform us of your intended usage of YouTube's API and enable us to better assist you.

More details are available in our new API Compliance Audits guide.

October 15, 2020

Two new sections have been added to the Developer Policies:

  • The new Section III.E.4.i provides additional information about the data collected and sent via the YouTube embedded player. You are responsible for any user data you send to us via any YouTube embedded player before the user has interacted with the player to indicate playback intent. You can limit the data shared with YouTube before a user interacts with the player by setting Autoplay to false.
  • The new Section III.E.4.j relates to checking the Made for Kids (MFK) status of content before embedding it on your sites and apps. You are responsible for knowing when videos that you embed on your API Client are made for kids and treating data collected from the embedded player accordingly. As such, you must check the status of content using YouTube Data API Service before embedding it on your API Client via any YouTube embedded players.

The new Finding the MadeForKids status of a video guide explains how to look up the MFK status of a video using the YouTube Data API Service.

In conjunction with these changes, a reminder has been added to the Embedded Player Parameter documentation to explain that if you enable Autoplay, playback will occur without any user interaction with the player; playback data collection and sharing will therefore occur upon page load.

August 27, 2020

The YouTube API Services Terms of Service and the Developer Policies link, in several places, to a form that you would use to apply for a quota extension, to request YouTube's approval for a user interface change or other modification, or to notify YouTube of a change of control for your API client. Previously, some of these links pointed to different forms specific to a particular type of request, but they have been updated to all point to the same form. For the use cases listed here, please select 'Quota Extension Request' in the form and include any relevant data in the 'Explain in detail how you use YouTube API Services today' input box.

June 30, 2020

The Complying with the YouTube Developer Policies guide begins with a list of policies that developers using YouTube API services must adhere to. The Terms of Service link in that list has been corrected to point to the YouTube API Services Terms of Service rather than the YouTube Terms of Service.

June 15, 2020

The new Complying with the YouTube Developer Policies guide provides guidance and examples to help you ensure that your API clients adhere to specific portions of the YouTube API Services Terms and Policies (API TOS).

This guidance offers insight into how YouTube enforces certain aspects of the API TOS but does not replace any existing documents. The guide addresses some of the most common questions that developers ask during API compliance audits. We hope that it simplifies your feature development process by helping you understand how we interpret and enforce our policies.

January 10, 2020

Section 9.1 of the YouTube API Services Terms of Service has been updated to include new requirements for Child-Directed API Clients and non-Child-Directed API Clients as well as requirements relating to uploading content to YouTube from Child-Directed API Clients and non-Child-Directed API Clients.

Section III.J (Reporting Noncompliance) of the Developer Policies has been (i) renumbered to Section III.K (Reporting Noncompliance) and (ii) replaced in its entirety with a new Section III.J (Child-Directed API Clients). The new Section III.J (Child-Directed API Clients) sets forth requirements for Child-Directed API Clients including specific compliance with the U.S. Children's Online Privacy and Protection Act (COPPA), E.U. General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), and any other applicable laws or regulations, and notifying Google of your Child-Directed API Clients. In addition, Child-Directed API Clients and users of Child-Directed API Clients must not take any YouTube API Services write-based actions to YouTube websites, applications, services or products via Child-Directed API Clients. Access to, or use of, YouTube API Services can be suspended or terminated for non-compliance with the YouTube API Services Terms of Service and Developer Policies including non-compliance with Section III.J.

June 18, 2019

The link to the form that you would use to apply for a quota extension, which appears in section D.3 of the Developer Policies, has been updated.

December 18, 2017

Section III.E.4.h of the Developer Policies has been updated to clarify that in addition to not replacing API Data with independently calculated data, you also must not access or use API Data to create new or derived data or metrics. In addition, the updated policy explains a requirement on API Clients to clearly disclose that any information, data, or metrics that are not based on API Data but that display alongside API Data are not from YouTube and are part of your own product.