social · Google
You’re creating on YouTube, which means…
You keep your videos, and the licence you hand over does have an end — but the contract fixes it only as “a commercially reasonable period of time”. What you give up while it runs is the right to say no to ads on your own work — and any claim to the money.
What they own
Nothing. YouTube says it in one line: “You retain ownership rights in your Content.” The video stays yours.
What you own
The copyright. The licence is non-exclusive, so you can post the same video elsewhere, sell it, or license it to someone else. You are also the one legally on the hook for anything in it you didn’t make — “You are legally responsible for the Content you submit to the Service.”
What you don’t
Any say over ads or money. Uploading grants YouTube “the right to monetize your Content”, and the next sentence closes the door: “This Agreement does not entitle you to any payments.” Deleting the video doesn’t end the licence on the spot either — it runs on for “a commercially reasonable period of time” — a phrase the contract never defines, and YouTube may keep server copies after that.
What they can do with it
Reproduce it, distribute it, prepare derivative works from it, display it and perform it — for YouTube’s business and for Alphabet’s. They can hand those rights on (sublicensable) and sell them with the company (transferable). Separately, every other user of the site gets their own licence to do the same things, but only inside YouTube.
The clauses
The grant
You are legally responsible for the Content you submit to the Service.…You retain ownership rights in your Content. However, we do require you to grant certain rights to YouTube and other users of the Service, as described below.…By providing Content to the Service, you grant to YouTube a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free, sublicensable and transferable license to use that Content (including to reproduce, distribute, prepare derivative works, display and perform it) in connection with the Service and YouTube’s (and its successors' and Affiliates') business, including for the purpose of promoting and redistributing part or all of the Service.
Sublicensable
YouTube can pass the right to use your video on to another company. You are not told who, and you are not asked.
Transferable
The licence moves with the business. Whoever owns YouTube next holds it on the same terms — the clause names “successors” outright.
Not just YouTube
The grant covers Affiliates, which these terms define as “the other companies within the Alphabet Inc. corporate group (now or in the future).” Your upload reaches further than the site you uploaded it to.
Yours to answer for
The rights run outward from you; the liability stays put. The same section requires that what you submit not include third-party intellectual property unless you have permission — and if it does, that is your exposure, not YouTube’s.
The second licence — to everyone else
YouTube Terms of Service — Your Content and Conduct › License to Other Users ↗
You also grant each other user of the Service a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free license to access your Content through the Service, and to use that Content, including to reproduce, distribute, prepare derivative works, display, and perform it, only as enabled by a feature of the Service (such as video playback or embeds). For clarity, this license does not grant any rights or permissions for a user to make use of your Content independent of the Service.
A separate grant
This is a second licence, and it runs to every other person on YouTube rather than to the company. It sits directly beneath the first one, under its own heading, and is easy to read past.
Where it stops
It is bounded twice — “only as enabled by a feature of the Service”, then again in the final sentence. Someone ripping your video and reposting it off-platform is not covered by it.
How long it lasts
YouTube Terms of Service — Your Content and Conduct › Duration of License ↗
The licenses granted by you continue for a commercially reasonable period of time after you remove or delete your Content from the Service. You understand and agree, however, that YouTube may retain, but not display, distribute, or perform, server copies of your videos that have been removed or deleted.
No “perpetual”
The words “perpetual” and “irrevocable” appear zero times in YouTube’s Terms of Service. Deleting your video does start the clock on the licence. It just doesn’t stop it that day.
Commercially reasonable
The end is never given as a date or a number of days. The measure is what is reasonable for the business running the Service, not for you.
Server copies
Deleted videos can stay on Google’s servers afterwards. The sentence bars display, distribution and performance — it does not bar keeping them.
Ads on your video, and who gets paid
YouTube Terms of Service — Your Content and Conduct › Right to Monetize ↗
You grant to YouTube the right to monetize your Content on the Service (and such monetization may include displaying ads on or within Content or charging users a fee for access). This Agreement does not entitle you to any payments. Starting November 18, 2020, any payments you may be entitled to receive from YouTube under any other agreement between you and YouTube (including for example payments under the YouTube Partner Program, Channel memberships or Super Chat) will be treated as royalties. If required by law, Google will withhold taxes from such payments.
Granted by uploading
The right to run ads against your video comes from the upload itself, not from joining the Partner Program. There is no opt-out written into this clause.
No payment attached
The second sentence is flat. Any money you make comes from a different contract, and this one does not promise you a cent.
Treated as royalties
Payments under the Partner Program, memberships and Super Chat are characterised as royalties rather than fees for services — which is what triggers the withholding sentence that follows.
The licence running the other way
YouTube Terms of Service — About Software in the Service › Downloadable Software ↗
When the Service requires or includes downloadable software (such as the YouTube Studio application), unless that software is governed by additional terms which provide a license, YouTube gives you a personal, worldwide, royalty-free, non-assignable and non-exclusive license to use the software provided to you by YouTube as part of the Service. This license is for the sole purpose of enabling you to use and enjoy the benefit of the Service as provided by YouTube, in the manner permitted by this Agreement.
Read the subject
“YouTube gives you” — this grant runs from them to you, and it is the reassuring one. The grant that matters is the one that starts “you grant to YouTube”.
The asymmetry
The licence you receive is non-assignable and covers software only. The licence you give is transferable, sublicensable, and covers your work.
What it’s worth if they get it wrong
YouTube Terms of Service — Other Legal Terms › Limitation of Liability ↗
YOUTUBE AND ITS AFFILIATES’ TOTAL LIABILITY FOR ANY CLAIMS ARISING FROM OR RELATING TO THE SERVICE IS LIMITED TO THE GREATER OF: (A) THE AMOUNT OF REVENUE THAT YOUTUBE HAS PAID TO YOU FROM YOUR USE OF THE SERVICE IN THE 12 MONTHS BEFORE THE DATE OF YOUR NOTICE, IN WRITING TO YOUTUBE, OF THE CLAIM; AND (B) USD $500.
The floor and the ceiling
The cap is whichever is larger: that year’s revenue, or five hundred dollars. Below $500 in earnings the five hundred is the number — so the channel that earns least is capped lowest.
Read with the disclaimer
The clause above it says YouTube makes no warranty “THAT ANY CONTENT YOU SUBMIT WILL BE ACCESSIBLE ON THE SERVICE.” Losing your library is a named non-promise, and this is what it is worth.
Due Dilly reads the paperwork and reports what it says. This is not legal advice.