Have you ever gone through your YouTube feed only to find offensive or hateful content but you don’t know what to do about it? Maybe you do know but you don’t know how to report the channel? In today’s guide, I’ll be teaching you how to Report a YouTube channel.
What is a YouTube channel?
A YouTube channel is a space that allows you to group the videos you make, upload the videos you watch and also create a playlist of the videos you have uploaded. Additionally, a YouTube channel also has a web address (URL) that allows you to promote your website or marketing material.
YouTube channels can be subscribed to and it can also be seen as a medium through which you can air out your voice about any content or niche you are interested in. The question becomes what should you do when you come across a channel that gives out hateful content to spur anger or incite violence? How to Unsubscribe from a YouTube Channel
Or a channel that gives out offensive content? For both scenarios, to prevent such content from being viewed by more people, you can report the channel and YouTube will then review it to ensure that it truly violates YouTube’s community guidelines before the content will be taken down and in some cases, the content will be hit with age restriction to ensure that it isn’t viewed by subscribers who aren’t mature enough. YouTube TV Channel List 2021.
What happens to me when I report a channel?
The answer is nothing will happen to you when you report a channel. I have heard of cases where people are scared of reporting certain channels because they believe that it can be traced back to you. If you also harbour such a notion then you are wrong. Reporting a channel cannot affect you in any way and it also cannot be traced back to you because you can report the channel anonymously.
Now you know about YouTube channel’s and that you can report an account without fear of being tracked by the owner of the channel, let’s dive into how to report a YouTube channel.
How to Report a YouTube Channel
There are two ways to go about reporting a channel on YouTube and each one is dependent on the medium through which you access YouTube from whether on a mobile phone or computer. By the end of today’s guide, you’ll be able to report any channel that violates YouTube’s community guidelines whether you are on a computer or a mobile.
How to Report a YouTube Channel (Computer Approach)
For the computer approach, regardless of the software platform (Windows, Mac, or Linux) you use, the steps are practically the same. To learn how to report a YouTube Channel via a computer, follow the set of instructions outlined below:
- Open your Web browser. For the guide, Chrome was used.
- Navigate to the search bar found at the top of your screen and input the address “com“.
- Sign in if you are not already signed in.
- Browse the channel giving out hateful or obscene content. From the search results, click on it. Another way to access the channel is by clicking the channel name found under one of its videos.
- Click on About found at the top of your screen. Doing this will reveal a hidden menu.
- On that menu, click on the Report It is a flag-shaped symbol.
- Clicking on the Report icon will reveal yet another menu. From the list of options available, click on “Report User “. Doing that will open up a Report Users window.
- On that window, select the reason why you are reporting that particular channel. The reason could range from harassment, privacy, child endangerment, hate speech against a protected group, etc.
- Click on the Next button found at the bottom.
- If it’s a reportable offence (i.e., selecting Privacy or None of these are your issue), clicking on Next will provide you with a form where you can input more details.
- Once you are done click on the Submit
Once you have gotten to this point, you have successfully learnt how to report a YouTube channel via the computer approach. A member of YouTube’s staff will check and review the channel. If the channel is then found wanting after the review, the owner might lose the channel.
How to Report a YouTube Channel (Mobile Approach)
If you own a smartphone and you prefer watching your favourite channel via your mobile device, you are not left out as you can also report hateful and obscene or any other content that violates YouTube’s community guidelines via your mobile device. To learn how to do this, follow the set of instructions outlined below:
- Open your YouTube app and sign in to your account if are not already signed in.
- Go to the channel you’d like to report and tap on the channel name.
- Tap on the three vertical dots found at the top right corner of your screen. Doing this will reveal a hidden menu.
- From the list of options available, tap on Report User. Doing that will redirect you to a Report Users window.
- On that window, select the reason why you are reporting that particular channel. The reason could range from harassment, privacy, child endangerment, speech against a protected group, etc.
- Click on the Next button found at the bottom.
- If it’s a reportable offence (i.e., selecting Privacy or None of these are your issue), clicking on Next will provide you with a form where you can input more details.
- Once you are done click on the Submit
At this point, you have successfully learnt how to report a YouTube channel via the mobile approach.
Now, what if the channel is okay but there is a particular video in that channel that could incite anger or is offensive. The question becomes, is it possible to report a single video? And the answer to this question is Yes. As a bonus to this guide, I’ll also be teaching you how to report a video using a computer and a mobile phone.
How to Report a Video (Computer Approach)
As earlier stated, rather than reporting a complete channel, it’s also possible to report a single video and to do this on your computer, follow the set of instructions outlined below:
- Open your Web browser. For the guide, Chrome was used.
- Navigate to the search bar found at the top of your screen and input the address “com“.
- Locate the video you’d like to report and once you find the video, click on it.
- Once the video starts playing, click on the three horizontal dots found beneath the video found at the right part of your screen. Doing this will reveal a drop-down menu.
- On that menu, click on Report. This will reveal a Report Video window.
- On that window, select the reason for reporting the video. If it also applies to the links within the video, click on the check box beside “This applies to links within the video description“.
- Click on Next.
- Input the additional information as required and when you are done, click on Next.
Now you have successfully learnt how to report a video on YouTube using a computer.
How to Report a Video (Mobile Approach)
For mobile apps, just like computers, the steps are the same regardless of your mobile phone’s software platform. To learn how to report a video using a mobile device, follow the set of instructions outlined below:
- Open your YouTube app.
- Login into your account, if you are not already logged in and if you are, skip this step.
- Locate the video you’d like to report.
- Tap on the video.
- Once the video starts playing, tap on the three vertical dots found at the top right corner of your screen to reveal a hidden menu.
- On that menu, tap on Report.
- Select the reason for reporting the video.
- Provide the additional information that’ll be required and once you are done, tap on Report.
If you followed this guide carefully without errors down to this point, congratulations! You have now learnt how to report a channel on YouTube with a computer or mobile device and also how to report a video on YouTube with a computer or mobile device.
Conclusion
Even though YouTube is concerned and efficient when it comes to removing inappropriate, they are not all-knowing and as such there will be channels or videos that will be left out and as such it’s up to us to report such videos without fear with the hope of making this world a better a place.