YouTube rolls out new Terms - Inserts Ads into Non-Monetized Content

On Wednesday, YouTube rolled out an updated Terms of Service in the United States. These new terms will be effective in countries outside of the United States in mid-year 2021. 

First, the Terms of Service already expressly state that users are not allowed to 'collect or harvest any information that might identify a person (for example, usernames), unless permitted by that person.' 

Second, ads can now appear on videos from channels not in the YouTube Partner Program (YPP), and YouTube will begin gradually placing ads on brand safe videos.

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This is part of their ongoing investments in new solutions, like Home Feed ads, that help advertisers responsibly tap into the full scale of YouTube to connect with their audiences and grow their businesses. Advertisers will continue to have full access to our brand suitability controls.

Finally, for U.S. creators in YPP, YouTube's updated Terms state that any revenue payments from YouTube will now be treated as royalties from a U.S. tax perspective, and that Google will withhold taxes from these payments if it is required by law. U.S. creators will generally be unaffected by these withholding taxes as long as they provide valid tax documentation in Adsense. For creators outside of the U.S., we will provide more details in 2021 as the terms become available in their countries.