External links policy

The external links policy covers everywhere on YouTube you can point somebody off the platform: descriptions, cards, end screens, pinned comments and anything shown during a live stream. The rule underneath it is simple. A link may not lead to material that would break the Community Guidelines if it were posted on YouTube itself, which rules out pornography, malware, phishing pages and sites selling regulated goods.

Enforcement is real. A serious breach draws a Community Guidelines strike, and three strikes inside a 90 day window ends the channel. The policy reads intent as well as mechanics, so telling viewers to copy and paste an address is treated like making it clickable.