As an administrator, you can help restrict which YouTube videos are viewable by signed-in users in your organization and on your network using YouTube's Restricted Mode settings.
Note: If you see content that's inappropriate, report it. When you report something, it isn't automatically taken down. Google first reviews the content to see if it's in line with the YouTube Community Guidelines. For details, go to Report inappropriate content.
YouTube Restricted Mode
With YouTube Restricted Mode, you can filter out potentially mature videos while leaving most videos available. When you turn on Restricted Mode for any version of Google Workspace:
- Users can't see comments on the videos they watch or upload videos to YouTube.
- Ad personalization settings aren't modified.
To add additional content, you can designate users to be approvers. These users have Can approve videos permissions and can search for and approve additional videos to make them viewable by signed-in users in your organization. For details, go to Add YouTube video approvers for your organization.
Restriction levels
There are 4 YouTube permissions settings in the Admin console:
- Strict Restricted YouTube access—This setting is the most restrictive, but it doesn't block all videos. Strict Restricted Mode filters out many videos based on an automated system, while leaving some videos available for viewing.
- Moderate Restricted YouTube access—This setting is similar to Strict Restricted Mode, but makes a much larger collection of videos available.
- Unrestricted YouTube access—Use this setting to turn off both Restricted Modes (Strict and Moderate). Only apply this setting if you want to let users in your organization have unrestricted YouTube access.
Users with this setting turned on can browse all of YouTube when signed-in even if you also set network-level restrictions.
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Can approve videos—Use this setting to designate individuals or organizational units to approve additional videos so that signed-in users in their organization can watch them. Individuals who manually approve videos and channels should share those videos with links; they won't appear in YouTube search results. For details, go to Add YouTube video approvers for your organization.
Apply different settings for different people or groups
To apply different settings to a group of users or Chrome devices, place them in their own organizational unit. You can then apply settings, including YouTube Restricted Mode, to just that group. For details, go to How the organizational structure works.
Do restrictions also apply to recommendations, related videos, and search?Yes. Restrictions apply to all recommended and related videos and videos available in search.
- If you haven't given unrestricted YouTube access to a user, they see an alert, indicating that the video isn't available.
- If a user has unrestricted access and is signed in to their Google Workspace account, they can view most videos on YouTube.
- If a user is an approver and is signed in to their Google Workspace account, the option to approve the video displays below the video player.
- If a user doesn't have unrestricted access or approval permissions, they can't view or approve a video. The domain administrator can approve the video or make the user an approver.
For signed-in users, the Admin console settings override network or device settings. For example, if a user is on a network with Strict Restricted YouTube access, but their organizational unit has Moderate Restricted YouTube access, then the user has Moderate Restricted YouTube access.
Since September 1, 2021, access to YouTube changes for Google Workspace for Education users based on new age-based access settings in the Google Admin console. Make sure to identify teachers and staff as over the age of 18. Otherwise, they lose access to teaching content that they created on YouTube. For details, go to Control access to Google services by age.
Note: Even if YouTube is turned off for students, they can still view videos that teachers share in Classroom and other Google Workspace apps as long as YouTube is turned on for teachers.
Set Restricted Mode
Before you begin: If needed, learn how to apply the setting to a department or group.
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Sign in to your Google Admin console.
Sign in using your administrator account (does not end in @gmail.com).
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In the Admin console, go to Menu
Apps
Additional Google Services
- Click Content settings
- Check the Signed in users in your organization can only watch restricted and approved videos box
- (Optional) To let verified Classroom teachers approve YouTube videos:
- Click Special approvers.
- Check the Verified Google Classroom teachers can approve videos box
- (Optional) To review videos that your organization has approved, click See approved videos.
- Click Settings for YouTube
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(Optional) To apply the setting only to some users, at the side, select an organizational unit (often used for departments) or configuration group (advanced). Show me how
Group settings override organizational units. Learn more
- Choose a permission level.
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Click Save. Or, you might click Override for an organizational unit.
To later restore the inherited value, click Inherit (or Unset for a group).
Note: For YouTube Restricted Mode settings to be applied:
- The user must be signed into their Google Workspace for Education account.
- The user must be in an organizational unit where the YouTube service setting is set to ON. For details, go to Turn YouTube on or off for users.
- Make sure the Signed in users in your organization can only watch restricted and approved videos box is checked.
Applying restrictions to signed-out users
Admin console settings don’t apply to signed-out users, including if they browse in incognito mode or when third-party cookies are blocked. To apply restrictions to signed-out users and update your network configuration, follow the instructions in Restrict YouTube content available to users.
Additional content restrictions
Note: Private YouTube videos are not playable in Google Workspace for Education services, such as Classroom or Google Slides, even if the video is shared directly with a Google Workspace for Education account. You might see an error message “This video is private.” To make private videos playable in Google Workspace for Education services, the video owner can update the privacy settings to unlisted, which will make the video accessible, but not searchable. For details, go to Change video privacy settings.
If a video cannot be played in Google Workspace for Education services and youtube.com is available to the user, viewers might be offered a link to YouTube when they attempt to play the video.
YouTube Premium
Users can't access or subscribe to YouTube Premium using a Google Workspace account.
