TLDR
- The EU’s top court ruled Google may lose liability protection for gambling videos posted by YouTube creators in its revenue-sharing program.
- The case began with a €750,000 fine from Italy’s regulator AGCOM over gambling content on YouTube.
- The court said hosting gambling ads is legally different from gambling advertising itself, and this part favored Google.
- Judges said YouTube’s Partner Program review process can give Google enough knowledge of content to lose legal protection.
- The case now returns to Italy’s Council of State to decide if Google actually broke the law.
The Court of Justice of the European Union has ruled that Google cannot always rely on standard EU liability protections when it comes to gambling videos posted by YouTube creators. The ruling could affect how platforms handle creator partnerships across Europe.
The court said platforms can lose their legal shield once they gain specific knowledge of what a user has uploaded. This applies when platforms review content as part of business deals with creators.
How the Case Started
The dispute traces back to a fine from AGCOM, Italy’s communications regulator. The fine totaled €750,000, or about $857,000.
AGCOM found that YouTube channels had promoted gambling websites. Some channels also encouraged viewers to send in videos of their winnings in exchange for payment.
Italy’s 2018 ban on gambling advertising was the basis for the penalty. The regulator also ordered Google to remove 630 videos and related content from the platform.
Google pushed back against the fine. The company argued that the EU’s hosting liability exemption should protect it, since the videos were uploaded by third parties, not Google itself.
An Italian court then asked the CJEU to weigh in on two separate legal questions.
What the Court Decided
The first question asked whether EU rules on hosting protections apply to gambling advertising at all. Here, the court sided with Google.
Judges said that gambling advertising itself falls outside the directive’s scope. But hosting that advertising is treated differently under the law.
The court explained that hosting gambling ads is no different from hosting any other kind of content or advertising. This meant YouTube’s basic hosting activity stayed covered by the directive.
The second question focused on YouTube’s Partner Program. This is the system where Google shares ad revenue with creators after reviewing their channels.
According to the ruling, Google looks at a channel’s main theme, its most popular videos, its newest videos, and related metadata before agreeing to share revenue.
The judges said this kind of review can give Google enough direct knowledge of a creator’s content. That knowledge can be enough to remove the platform’s usual legal protection.
The court stated that Google could not have reasonably been unaware that certain channels focused on gambling and games of chance.
Judges did not decide whether Google is actually liable under Italian law. That decision now goes back to Italy’s Council of State.
The Italian court will need to apply the standard set out by the CJEU to determine the outcome.
This ruling arrives as YouTube has already been tightening its own rules around gambling content. In March 2025, the platform barred creators from directing viewers to gambling sites that were not approved.
YouTube also expanded age restrictions on gambling-related videos around the same time. Google had separately updated its gambling ad policies in multiple countries before this ruling.
The decision could affect gambling affiliates, influencers, and other creators who take part in platform monetization programs like YouTube’s Partner Program.
