Platforms
Running a contest on YouTube: the four rules the platform imposes
A draw your entrants can recompute themselves
Seed published before the draw, public drand randomness, shareable video. Free for entrants.
Create an accountVerify an existing drawYouTube publishes a policy dedicated to contests, and it is stricter than most social platforms'. It contains four rules, one of which many organizers break without knowing.
1. Entry must be free
This is the sharpest rule, and it admits no exception: "Your contest must be free of charge to enter." No purchase, no payment, no financial consideration may condition entry.
That covers more cases than it appears. A contest reserved for paying channel members conditions entry on a subscription, therefore on a payment. A contest requiring a product purchase to obtain an entry code does the same thing, more visibly.
Under French law the same conclusion holds for a different reason: as soon as there is financial sacrifice, the promotion changes legal category and falls under a far heavier regime. The two rules converge, on different grounds.
2. Official rules, with four precise obligations
YouTube requires "Official Rules" that must:
- link to the Community Guidelines;
- state all applicable legal disclaimers;
- comply with YouTube's Terms of Service;
- make clear that YouTube is not a sponsor of the contest.
The fourth is the most forgotten and the easiest to satisfy: one sentence. The first often surprises — a YouTube contest's rules must point to the community guidelines, which has no equivalent on any other platform.
3. The liability release
Like Meta, YouTube requires entrants to release the platform from liability. The principle is identical: the platform hosts, it does not arbitrate. The organizer is "solely responsible" for the contest and must run it in accordance with what was announced.
That last point deserves attention: YouTube doesn't only require rules, it requires the contest to run as the rules announce. A gap between the two breaches platform policy, on top of being a legal risk.
4. Two prohibitions worth knowing
No metrics manipulation. A contest cannot be used to artificially inflate views, likes or subscriptions. The line is sometimes thin: asking people to subscribe is accepted; promising a reward proportional to view count is not.
No total rights assignment. You cannot require an entrant to assign all rights in their submission. For creative contests — video, editing, illustration — this is the clause to re-read: a bounded licence is acceptable, a universal perpetual assignment is not.
A confidentiality obligation comes with it: the rules must include a legally compliant privacy notice explaining what is collected and why.
What these rules say between the lines
Taken together, these requirements sketch a clear position: YouTube does not want to become the arbiter of the contests it hosts, and protects itself by requiring every organizer to be identifiable, bound by written rules, and solely responsible.
That shifts the burden of proof. In a dispute, the platform won't have to demonstrate anything — the organizer will. Hence the value of a winner-selection method anyone can recompute, rather than a screenshot of a random tool.
Key takeaways
YouTube imposes four things: free entry, without exception; official rules that link to the Community Guidelines and state YouTube is not a sponsor; a release of the platform from liability; and a ban on manipulating metrics or demanding a total rights assignment. The organizer is solely responsible, and must run the contest exactly as the rules announce.
FAQ
Can a contest be reserved for paying channel members?
No. Entry must be free, and a paid membership is financial consideration. A contest open to everyone, promoted more heavily to members, achieves the same goal without breaking the rule.
Is asking people to subscribe metrics manipulation?
Not in itself. What is prohibited is artificial inflation — for instance a reward indexed on view count, or instructions aimed at pushing a video into recommendations.
Should the rules be published on YouTube or elsewhere?
Elsewhere, preferably on a stable page whose address doesn't change. A video description can be edited without trace, which is precisely what a set of rules must not be able to do.
Can a creative contest claim rights over submitted videos?
Not all of them. A bounded licence — duration, territory, media — is accepted. A universal perpetual assignment breaches YouTube's policy and is fragile under copyright law.