Terms & Policies

Last updated: October 17, 2025

Poke operates as a privacy-friendly frontend for YouTube and does not host or store video content. All material viewed through Poke originates directly from YouTube’s servers. As such, copyright claims concerning specific videos or media should be directed to YouTube, not Poke.

If you believe that Poke has improperly displayed or proxied material in a way that violates your copyright, please first confirm whether the material appears directly on YouTube. If it does, the proper channel for resolution is YouTube’s DMCA takedown form.

Poke does not modify, rehost, or alter YouTube content in any way. Our systems act purely as a transient intermediary under 17 U.S.C. § 512 a, transmitting publicly accessible data. Therefore, any DMCA claim directed at Poke itself would not be valid, as we do not control or store the material.

In rare cases where Poke’s systems display mislinked or erroneously proxied material not present on YouTube, you may contact us via our issue tracker at https://codeberg.org/ashleyirispuppy/poke/issues and provide:

• Your name and contact information
• A link to the infringing content as displayed on Poke
• A link to the corresponding YouTube video if applicable
• A brief description of your claim and the nature of the alleged infringement

Privacy of Submitted DMCA Information

Any personal information you submit in a DMCA-related report will be used solely for the purpose of evaluating and responding to your claim. This data will not be shared publicly, sold, or reused for any other purpose.

Poke does not maintain permanent user accounts or personal databases, and any DMCA submission data is handled manually, reviewed, and deleted after the issue has been resolved. We strongly recommend that you avoid submitting unnecessary personal details.

Once received, we will review and, if applicable, adjust how the data is proxied to ensure accuracy and compliance. However, as Poke does not host or control the content, permanent takedown requests must be directed to YouTube itself.

Last updated: October 17, 2025

Poke functions as a privacy-friendly frontend for YouTube, providing an alternative interface to publicly available YouTube content. It allows users to watch videos, view metadata, and explore channels without being tracked, profiled, or exposed to intrusive advertisements.

All videos, thumbnails, and metadata are retrieved from YouTube’s public endpoints using reverse-engineered, community-understood protocols. We do not use the official YouTube Data API v3, nor have we ever agreed to Google’s API Terms of Service.

Under United States law 17 U.S.C. § 512 a, part of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act DMCA, intermediaries that “transmit material through a system or network without modification of its content” are lawful. Poke qualifies under this protection.

In the European Union, the project is protected under Directive 2001/29/EC which permits “temporary acts of reproduction that are transient or incidental.” Poke’s operation fully complies with this legal definition.

Poke is not illegal. It does not redistribute or rehost copyrighted material. It simply acts as a neutral layer for viewing publicly available YouTube data in a privacy-focused way.

Poke does not endorse, agree with, or moderate the videos, channels, or comments it displays. If you encounter unlawful or infringing content, please report it directly to YouTube.

Last updated: October 17, 2025

The Poke Project strictly prohibits the use of its content, data, or media streams for training, fine-tuning, or feeding any form of artificial intelligence or machine learning models. This includes, but is not limited to, video content, metadata, comments, thumbnails, and transcripts.

The materials displayed through Poke are subject to copyright owned by their respective creators and may not be reproduced or processed for automated learning systems. Using YouTube data or Poke’s interface for AI dataset creation would constitute unauthorized reuse of copyrighted works.

Any organization or individual found scraping, aggregating, or storing Poke content for AI training purposes will be considered in direct violation of this policy and may face reporting or blocking from our network services.

Last updated: October 17, 2025

Contributors to the Poke Project are welcome to use AI-assisted coding tools such as code autocompletion, linters, or assistants — provided that they understand and verify the code being submitted. Automated or unverified contributions that contain insecure, unclear, or copied proprietary code are not acceptable.

AI-assisted coding is allowed, but all contributors are responsible for ensuring their changes meet the project’s quality, security, and licensing requirements. The Poke maintainers cannot guarantee that AI-generated code will always be correct or safe.

AI-assisted coding is OK — but use it wisely, understand your code, and never rely on it blindly.

Last updated: October 17, 2025

The Poke Project values clean, readable, and consistent code across all modules and languages. Contributors are encouraged to:

• Use two spaces for indentation no tabs.
• Keep lines under 100 characters when possible.
• Write clear variable names — no cryptic one-letter identifiers.
• Follow the existing structure and naming conventions of the project.
• Use comments sparingly but meaningfully — explain why something happens, not what it does.
• Keep code GPL-compliant and avoid importing non-free dependencies.

Code consistency helps keep Poke maintainable, accessible, and true to its free software ideals.

Last updated: October 17, 2025

Poke is and shall always remain Free Software as defined by the Free Software Foundation. The project is permanently licensed under the GNU General Public License version 3 or later, ensuring users’ rights to use, study, modify, and share the software freely.

The core philosophy of Poke is freedom — not monetization. Poke will never include proprietary components, paywalls, or tracking scripts. The software and all its source code shall remain fully accessible to the public for all time.

Community mirrors, forks, and rehosts of Poke are explicitly allowed and encouraged, provided they follow the terms of the GNU GPLv3 license and maintain proper attribution to the Poke Project.

Last updated: October 17, 2025

Poke is developed and maintained with love and care, but it is still provided entirely “as is.” We do not guarantee perfect performance, uninterrupted uptime, or freedom from bugs and technical glitches.

Poke is primarily developed and tested on Firefox and other standards-compliant browsers. While it should function on most modern browsers, full compatibility on Chromium-based or alternative browsers cannot be guaranteed.

The project maintainers, contributors, and distributors are not liable for any damages, losses, or inconvenience caused directly or indirectly by using Poke, its APIs, or related software.

Last updated: October 17, 2025

Poke includes an internal filter system that identifies commonly known disinformation and conspiracy sources such as InfoWars, Breitbart, Daily Mail, RT, and others. This system serves only as a warning mechanism to encourage users to verify what they read.

You are free to access or view such content — the warning does not restrict access, censor, or block anything. It merely provides informational context based on publicly available fact-checking records.

The Poke Project does not control, filter, or prevent access to these domains; the warnings are purely educational in nature.