Youtube Blocking + Releasing specific videos or channels

Hi Team,

To block YouTube for your entire network while allowing access to a specific channel on a FortiGate 100F running version 7.2.7, follow these steps:

1. Ensure that SSL deep inspection is enabled on your FortiGate, as it is required for inspecting YouTube traffic.

2. Create a Video Filter Profile:
- Go to `Security Profiles` -> `Video Filter`.
- Create a new video filter profile or edit an existing one.
- Add the specific YouTube channel ID you want to allow. This can be done by setting the channel ID in the video filter profile.

3. Configure Application Control:
- Go to `Security Profiles` -> `Application Control`.
- Create or edit an application control profile.
- Set the YouTube application signature to `Monitor`.
- Block the QUIC protocol by setting it to `Block` to ensure traffic goes over TCP/UDP.

4. Create a Firewall Policy:
- Go to `Policy & Objects` -> `Firewall Policy`.
- Create or modify a policy to use proxy-based inspection mode.
- Apply the video filter profile and application control profile to this policy.

5. Custom Signatures (Optional):
- If needed, create custom signatures to allow specific YouTube channels using the provided patterns in the context.

Please do follow the below article:
https://community.fortinet.com/t5/FortiGate/Technical-Tip-How-to-restrict-YouTube-channels-using-video/ta-p/191767
https://community.fortinet.com/t5/FortiGate/Technical-Tip-Restrict-YouTube-access-to-specific-channels/ta-p/197740
https://community.fortinet.com/t5/FortiGate/Technical-Tip-Blocking-internet-traffic-but-allowing-access-to/ta-p/281430

Regards,
Durga

From expiriance such nitche features with Forti products can be hit or miss to be honest. Better stick to the normal functions with the web filtering in my view.

This is honestly really hard to do reliably on FortiGate because YouTube doesn’t cleanly separate channels anymore. Most people end up allowing specific video URLs in proxy mode with deep inspection and blocking QUIC, but even then it can.