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Sharing our policy development process

We continually improve our policy development and enforcement strategies to keep users safe.

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Why we create policies

Our policies articulate the purpose and intended use of a given product or service, from our Community Guidelines to our Terms & Conditions.

Collage of images shows icons of safe and secure content, a man working in an office.
Why we create policies

Our policies articulate the purpose and intended use of a given product or service, from our Community Guidelines to our Terms & Conditions.

Designing for safety

Our policy development process consists of four major phases:

Identify emerging trends and novel safety concerns

Google’s expert teams do what we think is best, assess emerging issues and consider external feedback.

Gather examples; identify common themes

Review evidence of harm, identify common themes, and view similar examples.

Draft policy standards; enforcement guidance

Assess impact, determine enforcement mechanisms, and consult experts.

Assess effectiveness; continuously review

Launch, test, and refine policy, assess effectiveness, and review enforcement actions and appeals.

Why our product policies differ

Our policies and Community Guidelines share the same mission to keep all users safe. Each of our features is different – so we have built specific policies for each feature based on the following five factors.

How product policies differ

From cloud-based storage to creator-focused products, our policies vary by product based on product purpose and user expectation.

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Google Search

Search aims to maximise access to information across the web. We remove results which violate our policies for specific reasons and we apply more restrictive policies when users may interpret the information as having greater quality or credibility.

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YouTube

Viewers and Creators around the world use YouTube to express their ideas and opinions freely, and we believe that a broad range of perspectives ultimately makes us a stronger and more informed society. That's why we have policies to help build a safer community.

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Google Ads

Our advertising product policies ensure we do not profit from harmful or illegal content, whilst also supporting a healthy digital advertising ecosystem—one that's trustworthy and transparent and works for users, advertisers, and publishers.