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YouTube is banning dangerous pranks and challenges including Bird Box and Tide Pod
July 06, 2025
After the Netflix OriginalBird Boxbecame a viral hit, people around the world uploaded videos to YouTube showing them compete in the Bird Box challenge. While some of the clips showing people stumble around their homes were funny, others involveddangerous stunts such as drivingwhile blindfolded.
After receiving demands from the community to not allow these types of dangerous videos, YouTube has announced that it is banning all harmful challenges and pranks.
YouTube announced its policy changes yesterday in ablog post(viaArs Technica):
YouTube’sofficial policy on harmful or dangerous contenthas also been updated. The following items were added to the list that already included instructional bomb making, hard drug use, and other acts that may result in serious injury.
Many worry that YouTube’s guidelines are too ambiguous and will lead to some content being deleted while others are left untouched. As YouTuberPhilip Defrancodiscusses, will this only remove videos involving dangerous stunts such as the Bird Box and Tide Pod challenges or will it also wipe the platform free of everything that includes upsetting a child such as Jimmy Kimmel’s Halloween Candy challenge?
To enforce these new policies and deter creators from uploading harmful videos, YouTube is using its community guidelines three-strike rule. After the channel has been stricken three times, the video platform can choose to shut it down completely.
YouTube is giving creators who have previously uploaded this type of content a pass. Over the next two months, any videos that were already uploaded involving harmful pranks or challenges will be deleted without striking the channel.
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