When you upload anything to YouTube, you give YouTube the legal right to use, copy, modify, and share that content globally, for free, including to promote their own business.
This analysis describes what YouTube Ads's agreement states, permits, or reserves. It does not constitute a legal determination about enforceability. Regulatory applicability and practical outcomes may vary by jurisdiction, enforcement context, and individual circumstances. Read our methodology
This clause means YouTube can use your videos across its platform and its affiliated businesses without paying you, and can pass those rights to successors or affiliates, which affects how creators should think about intellectual property when they upload.
Content creators grant YouTube broad, transferable intellectual property rights over their uploaded videos and audio as a condition of using the platform, without any compensation under these terms unless a separate monetization agreement applies.
How other platforms handle this
By submitting, posting or displaying content on or through our Services, you give Fitbit a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free license (with the right to sublicense) to use, copy, reproduce, process, adapt, modify, publish, transmit, display and distribute such content in any and all media or dis...
By submitting, posting, or displaying content on or through the Services, you grant Noom a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free license (with the right to sublicense) to use, copy, reproduce, process, adapt, modify, publish, transmit, display, and distribute such content in any and all media or di...
When you provide Content (as defined in the Steam Subscriber Agreement) to Steam, you grant Valve a worldwide, royalty-free, sublicensable license to use, reproduce, modify, adapt, publish, translate, create derivative works from, distribute, perform and display such Content... Valve is not responsi...
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"By providing Content to the Service, you grant to YouTube a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free, sublicensable and transferable license to use that Content (including to reproduce, distribute, prepare derivative works, display and perform it) in connection with the Service and YouTube's (and its successors' and Affiliates') business, including for the purpose of promoting and redistributing part or all of the Service.— Excerpt from YouTube Ads's YouTube Terms of Service
(1) REGULATORY LANDSCAPE: This provision engages copyright law, particularly the scope of copyright assignments and licenses under US Title 17, and may interact with EU Directive 2019/790 on copyright in the Digital Single Market, which addresses platform liability and creator rights. The FTC may have interest if the license scope is not clearly disclosed to average users at the point of upload. (2) GOVERNANCE EXPOSURE: Medium. The license is non-exclusive, meaning creators retain ownership and may license their content elsewhere, which limits exposure. However, the sublicensable and transferable nature of the license, extending to successors and Alphabet affiliates, expands its operational reach beyond what some creators may anticipate, and the absence of a defined license termination date upon content deletion adds ambiguity. (3) JURISDICTION FLAGS: EU creators may have additional moral rights protections under national implementations of EU copyright directives that are not waivable by contract, meaning the scope of the derivative works right may be more limited in practice for EU-based users than the terms assert. UK creators similarly retain certain moral rights under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. (4) CONTRACT AND VENDOR IMPLICATIONS: Businesses embedding YouTube content or using the YouTube API should confirm that their use of creator content falls within the scope of the license granted here and does not require separate clearance. The sublicensable and transferable language means downstream rights transfers to Alphabet affiliates are contemplated, which may be relevant in M&A due diligence scenarios. (5) COMPLIANCE CONSIDERATIONS: Compliance teams supporting creator-facing products or media businesses should confirm that onboarding materials clearly disclose this license scope at the point of content submission, particularly in jurisdictions with heightened consumer disclosure requirements.
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This clause means YouTube can use your videos across its platform and its affiliated businesses without paying you, and can pass those rights to successors or affiliates, which affects how creators should think about intellectual property when they upload.
Content creators grant YouTube broad, transferable intellectual property rights over their uploaded videos and audio as a condition of using the platform, without any compensation under these terms unless a separate monetization agreement applies.
No. ConductAtlas is an independent monitoring service. We are not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by YouTube Ads.