Esports content may be hit by YouTube’s new gambling and graphic violence policies
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Key points
- YouTube’s new gambling and graphic violence policies might affect esports broadcasts.
- Games like Counter-Strike 2 and Rainbow Six: Siege might be impacted.
- The policies go into effect on Nov. 17, 2025.
Starting Nov. 17, 2025, YouTube will update its policies regarding online gambling and graphic violence in gaming, which can affect esports broadcasts of games such as Counter-Strike 2, Rainbow Six: Siege and Call of Duty.
The new ruling now age-restricts content that depicts realistic human characters that “focuses on scenes of torture or scenes of mass violence against non-combatants.”
While some argue that, in the aforementioned games, both teams contain combatants and that they should be safe, YouTube has a history of being ambiguous when it comes to policies like this.
Regarding the online gambling part of the policy shift, this mostly affects Counter-Strike 2 content creators who lean toward its cases, where most gambling starts. It’s unknown if the site will count gacha games or case openings from other games like Overwatch 2 as online gambling. Other videos that feature a social casino site will also not be age-restricted.
Luckily, content posted that violates these policies prior to the implementation date won’t be penalized. However, YouTube clarified that it will be removed or age-restricted. The site is encouraging creators to trim or blur their content so that their videos are not affected by the new policy.
