YouTube's privacy policy and Community Guidelines were created to protect users and creators alike, however, many creators on the platform have experienced the lack of protection and response/action in the wake of harassment.

YouTube's Policies and Guidelines entail the following notice:

YouTube creator’s on- and/or off-platform behavior harms our users, community, employees or ecosystem, we may respond based on a number of factors including, but not limited to, the egregiousness of their actions and whether a pattern of harmful behavior exists. Our response will range from suspending a creator’s privileges to account termination.

However, much of the content housed on the platform fits the description for misinformation, defamation, bullying and outright cyber-harassment, usually directed at public figures, celebrities, or creators of color.

While the platform boasts the ability to respond to "harmful behavior", it has failed to respond in the wake of harassment.

As a creator, I was notified my content was found to have been stolen via their Copyright Violation Notification. When I requested the creator remove my content from their channel, YouTube provided that creator with my personal email address to appeal their case.

This person then began to harass me via email, which spread to harassing me on my channel, then all of my social media profiles. This person even began attempting to hack my email and log into my accounts. Upon blocking them, I was then attacked by many other accounts managed by this person.

I reached out to YouTube who told me this was a personal issue and they would not act. I requested they notify the creator that this behavior was harmful and violated YouTube's community guidelines, yet they refused, stating it is not their responsibility to manage my personal affairs!

I eventually had to reach out to the FBI and Gmail to intervene, but it pains me that YouTube, having participated, in part, in the harassment in the first place by providing my email without my consent, outright refused to even notify the creator their behavior was harmful and dangerous.

Dealing with the constant harassment, security violations and antagonism was extremely detrimental to my mental health and well-being. YouTube left me vulnerable to cyber-harassment and cyber-abuse by not providing an encrypted communication tool to facilitate a standardized method of communicating between creators in dispute. By not intervening by notifying the creator their behavior violated community standards and by not providing the very basic encrypted in-app messaging tool, they leave their creators vulnerable and unsafe.