Even if YouTube causes you significant harm, the most you can recover in damages is either $500 or the amount YouTube paid you in the past year — whichever is higher.
This provision effectively limits YouTube's financial accountability to consumers to a nominal $500 for the vast majority of users, regardless of the actual harm suffered, including from wrongful account termination, content loss, or data corruption.
Cross-platform context
See how other platforms handle Limitation of Liability and $500 Damages Cap and similar clauses.
Compare across platforms →For most users who have not earned revenue from YouTube, the maximum compensation for any harm caused by the platform — including data loss, wrongful account termination, or service failure — is capped at just $500.
REGULATORY FRAMEWORK: Limitation of liability clauses are governed by state contract law (UCC Article 2 for goods, common law for services) and may be subject to California Civil Code §1668 (contracts that exempt parties from fraud or willful injury are void) and Cal. Civ. Code §1671. EU consumers are protected by the Unfair Contract Terms Directive 93/13/EEC and national implementations, which would likely render a $500 cap on consequential consumer harm unenforceable. GDPR Article 82 establishes a separate, non-waivable right to compensation for data protection violations that this clause cannot override.
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