ShortMax Content Rules on TikTok, YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram (and How Appeals Work)

Copyright strikes — not traffic, not editing skill — are what end most short drama promotion runs. The rules below come from the ShortMax partner program's own requirements, organized here so you can check a video against them before posting instead of after a takedown. Read this once in full, then use the mounting table as a pre-publish checklist. If you are still at the very beginning, the chain of roles behind these rules is explained in how short drama affiliate programs work.

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Step zero: whitelist your accounts before you post#

Before promoting anything, submit your social accounts for whitelisting (报白) through the program. Approved platforms are TikTok, YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram — the same set covered in where to promote short drama affiliate links — and review typically returns in one to two days. Whitelisting is what makes the program able to assist you when a strike happens; an unwhitelisted account is fighting alone. Note the second clause that comes with it: bulk whitelisting is prohibited, and posting through accounts not authorized under the program is treated as piracy. One account, one whitelisting request. (Whitelisting presupposes a registered partner account — if you still need one, start with how to get a ShortMax invitation code.)

The mounting matrix: where the link and code go#

Every video must carry your CPS link and/or promo code, and each platform has its own required placement:

A video that skips its required placement will not be unblocked by the licensor, ever. That is not a threat — it is how the appeal process is written. Mount before you publish, then click your own link once from a logged-out browser to confirm the jump actually works.

The ten-percent rule: three re-edit formats#

Pure reuploads are prohibited on every platform. Your edit must add at least ten percent original material relative to the video's total runtime — a seven-minute video needs forty seconds or more of your own work. Three formats qualify:

• Highlight edit (燃剪): high-energy music over a cut of the drama's peak moments, with on-screen text explaining the plot. On YouTube, where music enforcement is strict, text-only without music is accepted.
• Restructured cut (混剪): a new storyline — re-designed sequence and structure across episodes or titles, not just trimming the source in order.
• Recap with narration (解说): a written summary voiced over the footage, with third-party or your own narration.

All three formats count equally, so pick by your strengths: editing speed favors the highlight edit, writing favors the recap.

The universal rules, per platform#

Five requirements hold everywhere:

1. Free materials only. Use the assets in the program's shared drive, and never exceed the granted scope — over-publishing burns accounts with no recourse.
2. Never use the official name or avatar. Accounts impersonating ShortMax are treated as piratical and struck regardless of content.
3. Always tag #ShortMax. The hashtag is what keeps your video from being swept up in generic copyright enforcement against lookalike content.
4. Add the mandatory ending card. The program supplies an ending clip in the drive; it goes on the end of every video.
5. Mount link and code, and verify the jump. Required placements are in the table above.

Platform-specific extras worth knowing: on YouTube, keep videos within ten minutes, and publish from draft after one or two days of observation — if a copyright notice appears while still in draft, file an appeal first, then publish.

When a strike happens: the appeal process#

The appeal form asks for: your team, the platform, account/channel name and link, whitelisting status, blocked drama ID (write "none" if absent), blocked drama title, the rights holder, and screenshots — YouTube shows the rights holder on the video's copyright detail, and the form needs that screenshot. One video link per account per filing. If an appeal fails, read the feedback, fix the form, and resubmit.

The broader claim rules behind all of this — disclosure wording, what you may and may not promise viewers — are covered in short drama affiliate compliance, and search engines hold affiliate pages to the same standard per Google's affiliate content guidance.

Common Copyright Mistakes#

Whitelisting after the first strike. Whitelisting is preventive paperwork. Doing it retroactively costs you the program's assistance exactly when you need it.

Deleting a struck video. The single most expensive reflex. Deletion locks the block in place; "unlisted" preserves the appeal path.

Treating the hashtag as optional decoration. It is the marker that separates your licensed promotion from the piratical uploads enforcement sweeps daily.

Reuploading with a filter on it. A color grade is not a re-edit. The ten percent rule means new structure or narration, and reviewers know the difference.

Publishing on YouTube the same hour the video is finished. The draft-observation window exists because strikes land hardest there. Two days of patience is cheaper than a lost channel.

Filing appeals with mismatched screenshots. The form is batch-processed; an incomplete or wrong-screenshot filing just fails overnight. Check every field against the list before submitting.