Yandex Music content guidelines
Yandex Music is a place where you can listen to your favorite music, discover new content tailored to your liking, or share your work with a wide audience. The platform hosts dozens of millions of tracks, a library of podcasts and audiobooks, fairy tales and lullabies for children, as well as experimental formats like neuromusic. Music tracks and audiobooks are placed and updated on Yandex Music automatically based on agreements with their copyright holders. Podcasts are posted by their respective creators based on an offer agreement through a special interface and are automatically updated via RSS feeds.
To help you navigate the vast sea of content and find something that you'll like, the platform offers a personalized music stream called My Vibe, along with numerous playlists, charts, and selections curated by our editorial team. We want Yandex Music to be a source of inspiration, bring surprises and the joy of new discoveries. At the same time, we recognize that not all content aligns with this vision — some may be negative, unpleasant, or even harmful. To restrict the placement or distribution of such content and create a safe, positive environment for our listeners, we've worked with the Music Industry Association to establish guidelines that all content on Yandex Music must meet.
That said, we acknowledge that musical content can differ significantly depending on the genre, creative style, and the artist's self-expression — and we will always take these factors into account when reviewing any content that could be seen as controversial. In more nuanced cases, we may also consult external independent linguistic experts.
Violence
Yandex Music prohibits the promotion of any form of violence, including violence against people, animals, and oneself. Content with calls for suicide, physical harm, bullying, harassment, and other actions that may lead to injury or more serious consequences, as well as content that degrades human dignity, will be considered a violation of these guidelines.
Offensive content
We do not allow discrimination or insults based on race, ethnicity, gender, age, religion, physical characteristics, or other individual features. Examples of this kind of behavior include glorifying Nazi ideology and its symbols, praising the actions of extremist groups, or encouraging racism. We have zero tolerance for such content.
Shocking and adult content
We are very cautious regarding content that features realistic depictions of sex scenes, covers methods and effects of drug use, consists entirely of obscene language, or describes extreme violence. Since such content may shock or repulse people and evoke strong negative reactions, we regulate it heavily on our platform.
What we do with content that doesn't comply with the guidelines
We take action against any content that violates the rules of Yandex Music. Depending on the nature of the content, we may:
- Mark it with special labels that indicate age restrictions. For example, this is the case with explicit content or profanity.
- Restrict content distribution, including by removing it from recommendations to users and/or downranking it in search results on Yandex Music.
- Restrict access to it on Yandex Music and inform the copyright holder.
Content placed on Yandex Music must comply with the applicable laws of the countries in which this content is distributed. If it doesn't, we reserve the right to restrict access to such content on our platform upon request by competent authorities or the court. This occurs in strict compliance with the necessary legal procedures. In addition, users who place content on Yandex Music must comply with the Yandex Music Terms of Use available at https://yandex.ru/legal/music_termsofuse/.
To learn more about how content appears on Yandex Music and why it may sometimes be restricted, see the Yandex Music Transparency Report. The report also features a content analysis overview and statistics on removals at the request of government agencies.
Content processing methods
Yandex Music automatically checks content for compliance with its guidelines using machine learning and computer vision technology. If the algorithm detects a potential problem, it notifies the moderation team, which in turn decides on the appropriate course of action. In straightforward cases, the algorithm takes care of everything on its own: for example, it'll assign an age label if it can confidently determine that the song contains explicit language.
We also rely on user reports to help identify problematic content. If you come across content that you believe goes against the Yandex Music guidelines, you can report it using the feedback form.
If the content you placed on Yandex Music was found to be in violation of the platform's guidelines, you can make the necessary changes and upload it again. If you believe that your content was flagged by mistake, you can challenge the decision by filing an appeal.