Sensitive Topics Playbook: Eating Disorders, Guns & Music Claims

Why These Topics Are So Sensitive

YouTube treats three buckets of content with extra caution: eating disorders and self-harm, guns and violence, and anything that sounds like "you can use this music however you want".

You are allowed to talk about all of them—but the line between "explaining" and "encouraging" is thin. Most creators get in trouble not because of their footage, but because of one or two careless sentences in the script.

• Eating disorders / self-harm: sharing recovery and education is fine, presenting extreme weight loss as a challenge or hack is not.
• Guns & violence: historical, documentary, and safety-focused content is safer; tutorials, glorification, or threats are not.
• Music & copyright: honest explanations of licences are fine; blanket statements like "use this everywhere, no problem" are risky.

Eating Disorders & Extreme Weight Loss: Safer Ways to Talk

Scripts get into trouble when they treat extreme weight loss or disordered eating as a goal, a joke, or a challenge. Lines like "I dropped XX pounds in 7 days, you can too" or "don't eat and you won't feel hungry" are exactly what policies are trying to prevent.

A safer pattern is: share your experience, make it clear it's not a template for others, and point viewers toward professional help if they are struggling.

Guns & Violence: Make Your Intent Obvious

You can absolutely talk about guns in the context of history, law, safety, or games. The problems start when the script sounds like a real-world tutorial or a threat, even if you're only showing props.

If your script includes phrases like "how to get around restrictions" or "this is how you teach someone a lesson", you're signalling the wrong thing to both viewers and the platform.

• Explicitly say your content is for education, history, or fiction analysis.
• Call out that viewers should never try dangerous acts in real life and must follow local laws.
• Clarify when weapons shown are props or airsoft and not real firearms.

Music & "No Copyright" Claims: Don't Overpromise

The easiest way to get into trouble with music is to make promises you can't back up: "totally free", "use anywhere you want", "will never trigger claims".

Most libraries have conditions. You might have a valid licence, but your viewers don't automatically inherit it. If they follow your script word-for-word and get claimed, your video will look misleading.

• Name the source and what kind of licence you personally have (subscription, single-track, etc.).
• Tell viewers to check the actual licence before using the track themselves.
• Avoid absolute language like "never" and "no risk"—use conditional wording instead.

How ScriptGuard Helps at the Script Level

ScriptGuard can't see your thumbnails or listen to your BGM. It only reads your script. But that is often enough to flag sentences that sound like tutorials for dangerous behaviour or promises that are too good to be true.

In practice, ScriptGuard highlights:

• Phrases that glorify extreme weight loss or self-harm instead of discouraging it • Language that mixes weapons with instructions, encouragement, or threats • Overconfident copyright claims like "no copyright" or "100% safe to use anywhere"

The report then suggests alternative phrasings that still let you tell your story, but from an educational and safety-first angle.

A Simple Workflow for High-Risk Topics

1. Write the script you actually want to say about weight, guns, or music—don't sanitize it yet.
2. Paste the full script into ScriptGuard and run a check under the relevant category (self-harm, violence, or copyright/claims).
3. Review all highlighted sentences and decide: do I tone this down, add a warning, or cut it entirely?
4. Once you're happy with the script, then write your title and design your thumbnail to match the safer tone.

If a video idea feels “borderline” even to you, make ScriptGuard review a standard part of that script's process before you hit record.

Treat Sensitive Topics as a Separate Track in Your Workflow

Not every video needs a full policy deep-dive, but anything touching eating disorders, guns, or copyright claims deserves extra care.

Tag those scripts as high-risk in your own system, run them through ScriptGuard, and keep a list of phrases that repeatedly get flagged. Over time, you'll build your own house rules for sensitive topics that fit your channel.

You don't have to avoid hard conversations—but the way you script them will decide whether brands and the platform trust you to keep having them.