Our Process to Create and Develop Policies - Transparency Center Jump to Content Transparency Center Transparency Center Overview Our approach Our process Taking action Our policies Product policies Privacy, terms & AI Accountability Tools & programs Reporting & appeals Partner programs Researcher Engagement Sharing our policy development process We continually improve our policy development and enforcement strategies to keep users safe. 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. How we create policies Our policies are created after careful research, engaging with experts, and, when appropriate, we consider relevant laws. As the landscape changes, our policies evolve – helping to prevent abuse while allowing businesses and creators to reach new audiences and grow. Data, law, world events, and experts guide our policy development. We combine learnings from data scientists and expert sources to build policies that make the web safer, and improve accessibility and user experience. We are constantly staying abreast of breaking events to make sure our policies are in the right place. Law and regulation provide rules and roadmaps to help ensure we protect users, address harm, and improve accountability. We may partner with academic, scientific and industry experts and sometimes use feedback from users and creators. Designing for safety Our policy development process consists of 4 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 are different – and so, we have built specific policies for each feature based on the following five factors. Storage and sources of content We approach product policies differently when we’re hosting content versus when we’re indexing. Public or private content We approach product policies differently when we enable public dissemination versus when privacy expectations are higher. Recommended content We may approach policies differently for features that organize or suggest content to users. Providing products and services We approach product policies differently when we own a service versus when we only provide the infrastructure for someone else. Monetization We approach product policies differently when a feature enables monetization or facilitates transactions. How product policies differ From cloud-based storage to creator-focused products, our policies vary by product based on product purpose and user expectation. Google Search Search aims to maximize access to information across the web. We remove results for specific reasons violating our policies and we apply more restrictive policies when users may interpret the information as having greater quality or credibility. 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. Google Ads Our advertising product policies ensure we do not profit from harmful or illegal content, while also supporting a healthy digital advertising ecosystem—one that's trustworthy and transparent, and works for users, advertisers and publishers. Dive deeper with these additional resources Whitepaper Information quality and content moderation Read how we’re surfacing the most helpful and trustworthy content, while preventing user and societal harm. Article Protecting user privacy on health topics Protecting user privacy and securing users’ data is core to Google’s work. Website Google Safe Browsing Read how Google's security team is making the web safer by identifying unsafe websites. Footer links Social Module Follow us Follow us on YouTube Transparency Resources Ads Transparency Center Transparency Report About our products How Search Works How YouTube Works Help Center Responsibility Public Policy Protecting Children Safety Center Responsible AI About Google Google products Privacy Terms Cookies management controls Help