The areas the Community Guidelines cover, how they differ from copyright, and how to use them as a pre-upload check.
The Community Guidelines are YouTube's rules for what is allowed on the platform. They apply to videos, comments, thumbnails, descriptions and channels, whether or not a channel earns. This article describes them at a high level and does not reproduce the wording.
What they cover
In concept, the areas are:
Safety of people, including harassment, harmful or dangerous content and the protection of children.
Violent or graphic content.
Deception, including spam, scams, impersonation and misleading titles, thumbnails or descriptions.
Sensitive subjects and regulated goods, where context and local law matter.
Hate and discrimination.
Platform integrity, such as artificial engagement or manipulating platform features.
How they differ from copyright
Copyright asks who owns the material. The guidelines ask what the content is and what it does. A video can comply with one and break the other. They have different notices, different processes and different consequences, so read each notice for what it actually says. See Claim or strike? for the copyright side.
Three rule systems can apply to one video:
Rule systems that can apply
Community GuidelinesApply to all content, earning or not
CopyrightProtects the rights of owners
Earning rulesExtra rules for channels that earn
How enforcement generally works
Context matters. Educational, documentary and news contexts may be treated differently.
Responses range, depending on the case, from removing a video to limits on a channel.
Studio shows policy notices and the options you have.
If you believe a decision is wrong, there are routes to ask for a review. Use them with a real reason.
The guidelines are set by YouTube and can change. Read the current official page before you act, and rely on the official text rather than on any summary.