How to Report a YouTube Reupload or Comment — and 14 Other Things People Try to Flag
To report a YouTube reupload of your own video, file a copyright removal request — not the in-app flag. To report a YouTube comment, open its three-dot menu and pick Report. Most other things — fake views, AI fakes, doxxing, playlists, even ban evasion — each have their own route, and report volume never decides the outcome.
How do you report a YouTube reupload or someone stealing your videos?
A reupload is a copyright problem, so it skips the ordinary flag entirely. When a channel re-posts your video, you submit a copyright removal request on YouTube's webform, signed under penalty of perjury; a valid notice pulls the copy and lands a copyright strike on the uploader. That is also how to report someone on YouTube for stealing videos when the work is genuinely yours — the flag menu can't do it, because copying isn't a Community Guidelines question but a legal one. The deeper mechanics of notices, strikes and counter-claims live in our walkthrough of the official takedown routes.
If you'd rather catch copies as they appear, YouTube's Copyright Match Tool switches on once you've filed one valid removal request, then scans new uploads for full or near-full matches of your video. A match has to clear 25 views before it's flagged, and you must have been the first to upload the original; from there you can Request removal, message the uploader, or leave it. You can even ask YouTube to block future reuploads of a video it already removed. This is different from Content ID, the automated matching system reserved for large rights holders.
Can you report stolen content on YouTube?
Yes — but only your own copyrighted work, and "stolen" is narrower than it feels. Copyright covers the actual footage, recording or images you made, not an idea, a video format, a fact or a thumbnail style someone borrowed. So you can report stolen content on YouTube through the copyright webform when a creator reposts your raw video; you can't use it to punish someone for copying your concept. If the problem is really someone passing themselves off as you or your brand, that's impersonation, and reclaiming your @handle and identity is the faster fix.
How to report stolen content on YouTube Shorts
Shorts are videos in YouTube's eyes, so the route is identical: a copyright removal request through the same webform, not a flag. To report stolen content on YouTube Shorts — your full clip recut vertically, or a Short lifted whole — you file the notice for the infringing URL, and the Copyright Match Tool watches Shorts uploads too. The catch creators miss is that a few seconds of your footage stitched into someone else's Short still counts as your recording, while a Short that merely copies your editing trend does not.
How to report a YouTube channel for stealing content
When an entire channel exists to re-upload other people's work, you don't report the channel in one click — you file a removal request for each stolen video. Those valid copyright strikes stack, and three inside 90 days terminate the channel. So how to report a YouTube channel for stealing content is really patient documentation: gather the infringing URLs, prove you uploaded the originals first, and let the strikes accumulate. If several different harms overlap, our guide to which violation actually removes a channel shows where to start.
How do you report a YouTube comment, and how many reports does it take to delete one?
To report a YouTube comment, hover over or tap it, open the three-dot menu, choose Report, and pick the reason — spam, harassment, hate or misinformation. On your own video you'll also see options to remove it outright or hide the user. But how many reports to delete a YouTube comment? None and any: there is no threshold. A comment falls when it breaks the rules, whether one viewer flags it or a thousand do, and a creator can delete it instantly without filing anything at all.
Creators actually hold the sharper tools. In YouTube Studio you can hold comments for review, add blocked words that quarantine matching comments for up to 60 days, and block users so they can't comment again. The scale of the spam problem explains why automation does most of this: YouTube removed more than 5.3 billion comments in 2024, roughly 70% of them tied to spam or scams, according to a 2025 Video Advertising Bureau analysis of YouTube's Community Guidelines enforcement data. For the per-surface flag flow on videos, Shorts and live chat, see our guide to reporting a video.
Can you report a YouTube video more than once?
Yes, nothing physically stops you re-reporting the same video — but it changes nothing. Reporting isn't a vote count, so a second or tenth flag on one upload carries no extra weight; reviewers judge the content against policy, not the size of the pile. The same answer covers whether you can report a YouTube channel multiple times: you can, and it's pointless. Worse, YouTube treats repeated, coordinated flagging from one source as a manipulation signal, discards it, and can turn the scrutiny back on the account doing it.
This is exactly why a paid mass-report bot never removes a compliant video, and why ten friends spam-flagging a creator they dislike accomplishes nothing. One accurate report on a genuine violation outperforms a hundred empty ones. If you're tempted to escalate volume, the honest read of what really gets a channel banned is the better use of your time.
How do you report fake views, fake engagement and fake YouTube ads?
Bought views, bot likes and sub-for-sub rings all break YouTube's Fake engagement policy, which states YouTube "doesn't allow anything that artificially increases the number of views, likes, comments, or other metrics either by using automatic systems or serving up videos to unsuspecting viewers." To report fake engagement on YouTube, open a video from the offending channel, use the three-dot menu, choose Report, then Spam or misleading, and select the deceptive-practices option. You're flagging the seller's content, since YouTube already strips artificial metrics from public counts when it detects them.
Fake ads are a separate system. A scam advertisement isn't a creator's upload — it's Google ad inventory — so you report it from the ad's Info (ⓘ) badge or its menu with Report this ad, which routes to Google's ad-review team rather than the channel you were watching. We cover that flow, and the agencies to contact if money changed hands, in our dedicated guide to reporting YouTube ads and scams.
How do you report AI-generated content on YouTube, or a video that doxxes you?
These are two different problems with two different forms. For synthetic media, YouTube now asks creators to disclose realistic altered or AI-generated content, which shows viewers a "How this content was made" label; when deceptive synthetic content goes undisclosed and misleads, you report it under misinformation or impersonation. Crucially, if a video uses AI to mimic your own face or voice, you can ask YouTube to take it down through its privacy request process — the company extended that process specifically to synthetic content simulating an identifiable person, though not every request is granted.
Doxxing runs through that same privacy lane. Posting someone's home address, phone number or ID is a privacy violation, and you file the privacy complaint as the person who is uniquely identifiable, adding a harassment report from the video's menu for good measure. To report a YouTube video for doxxing that carries a credible threat, contact the police first — YouTube can remove the clip, but it can't protect you in real time.
How do you report a YouTube live stream, playlist or ban evasion channel?
Each of these lives in its own menu. To report a YouTube live stream, use the More menu under the player while the broadcast is still running; live content that signals real-time harm is pushed up the review queue, and individual live-chat messages are reported one at a time from their own menus. To report a YouTube playlist, open the playlist page, click its three-dot menu, and choose Report — a playlist can break the Playlists policy through its title, description or what it deliberately compiles, separate from any single video in it.
Ban evasion is the subtle one. Under YouTube's circumventing-enforcement rule, a creator whose channel was terminated may not start, use or acquire another — and YouTube intensified enforcement of this in July 2025. So how to report YouTube ban evasion is to flag the new channel and, where the form allows, note that it belongs to a previously terminated account. If you suspect the rebuild is reusing your stolen identity, our guide to a terminated versus deleted channel untangles the status; if a wrongful strike landed on you, learn to appeal it instead.
What about reporting a YouTube moderator who abuses their power?
Here the honest answer is the useful one: there is no "report this moderator" button, because a YouTube moderator isn't a YouTube employee. A mod is an ordinary viewer a creator appointed to help run their live chat and comments — they can hide comments, delete chat messages and time users out inside that creator's space, but they hold zero power over your account, your videos or the platform. So how to report a YouTube mod for abuse of power comes down to two real options: report any genuinely rule-breaking comment or message the mod posts, exactly as you'd report any other user, or take it up with the creator, who is responsible for the people they hand those controls to. Mass-reporting a mod out of a chat disagreement just trips YouTube's manipulation filters and helps no one.
Which official route does each YouTube report need?
The right route depends on what's wrong and where the control sits — and in every row below, the result turns on whether a real rule is broken, not on how many people complain. Match your problem to its channel before you file, because a complaint sent down the wrong lane quietly stalls.
| What you're reporting | Where you start | Official route | Does report count matter? |
|---|---|---|---|
| A reupload of your video | Copyright webform / Match Tool | Copyright removal request | No — one valid notice is enough |
| A comment | The comment's ⋮ menu | Community Guidelines report (+ creator moderation) | No |
| Fake views or fake engagement | A video by the channel | Spam / fake-engagement report | No |
| An AI clone of your face or voice | YouTube privacy process | Privacy removal request | No |
| Doxxing or personal info | Privacy complaint + harassment flag | Privacy + Community Guidelines | No |
| A live stream | The live player's ⋮ menu | Community Guidelines report (real-time) | No |
| A playlist | The playlist's ⋮ menu | Playlists-policy report | No |
| A ban-evading channel | The new channel page | Circumventing-enforcement report | No |
| A scam or fake ad | The ad's Info (ⓘ) badge | Report this ad (Google ad review) | No |
Official YouTube reporting links
- YouTube Help — Report a video, Short, comment or live chat (reporting is anonymous)
- YouTube Help — Fake engagement policy
- YouTube Help — Learn about the Copyright Match Tool
- YouTube Help — Submit a copyright removal request
- YouTube Help — Prevent reuploads of removed videos
- YouTube Help — Disclosing altered or synthetic (AI) content
- YouTube Help — Protecting your identity (privacy complaints)
- YouTube Help — Learn about comment settings (moderation)
- YouTube Help — Channel or account terminations (circumventing enforcement)
- Google — YouTube Community Guidelines enforcement (Transparency Report)
Reporting works when the case is real, aimed at the right surface, and filed through the form that can act on it — that's the entire craft. YouTube Ban Service qualifies a complaint first, maps a reupload, comment or channel to its correct copyright, privacy or Community Guidelines route, assembles the evidence reviewers need, and submits it through YouTube's own tools. We act on genuine violations only, never a creator you simply dislike. Browse the rest of our reporting solutions or our content removal service, or get in touch with the link and the reason and we'll tell you honestly whether it stands a chance.
FAQ
How to report a YouTube mod for abuse of power?
There is no button for it. A moderator is a viewer a creator picked to manage their chat and comments, so they hold no power over your account. Report any rule-breaking message they post like any other comment, or contact the creator who appointed them.
How to report YouTube fake views?
You report the channel or video, not a number. Open a video by the channel, use the three-dot menu, choose Report, then Spam or misleading, and flag the deceptive practices. YouTube already validates view counts and strips out the artificial ones it detects, so the report mainly flags the seller.
How to report a YouTube video for doxxing?
Use two routes together. File the privacy complaint process, since exposed addresses, phone numbers or IDs are a privacy violation when you are uniquely identifiable, and add a harassment report from the video's menu. If the doxxing carries a credible threat, treat it as a police matter first.
How do you report a YouTube playlist?
Open the playlist page, click its three-dot menu, and choose Report. A playlist can break the Playlists policy through its title, description, thumbnail or what it deliberately compiles, so reviewers look at the collection itself rather than only the videos sitting inside it.
Can you report a YouTube channel multiple times?
You can, but it adds nothing. Reporting is not a tally, so a channel comes down only when reviewers confirm real violations. Repeated or coordinated reports from the same source are detected and discarded, and they can put your own account at risk rather than the target's.
How many reports does it take to delete a YouTube comment?
There is no number. A comment is removed when it breaks the Community Guidelines, whether one person flags it or none do, and a creator can hide or delete it instantly on their own video. Piling on reports does not force a removal that review would not reach anyway.