Mixed media & embed policy
YouTube Shorts, first-party clips, and images alongside Story clusters.
சுதேசமித்திரன் may show a limited number of YouTube Shorts cards alongside our primary Story clusters. Articles and spectrum journalism remain the core product; Shorts are optional context or explainer clips chosen by editors.
What we do
- Embed via official YouTube player (
youtube-nocookie.com) using oEmbed metadata. - Link prominently to “Watch on YouTube” — we do not download or re-stream files.
- Cap Shorts density (~1 per 4 Story cards) so the feed stays news-first.
- Allow copyright complaints through our grievance form.
First-party video & images
Editor-uploaded clips and images may be stored on our Cloudflare R2 bucket and served only through
/api/media/ (never hot-linked from arbitrary domains). These may link to a related Story via
story_id.
What we do not do
- Scrape or host YouTube video binaries on our servers for third-party Shorts.
- Accept arbitrary user-uploaded video URLs in the public app (MVP).
- Autoplay with sound or use invisible tracking pixels inside embeds.
Technical & legal references
Full operator runbook:
See docs/youtube-shorts-embed-policy.md in the project repository (operator copy). YouTube Terms and API Services Terms apply to embedded playback.
Report a Short
Use grievance type copyright with the YouTube URL. We aim to review valid notices within 36 hours and can hide the card without affecting unrelated Stories.