Posting clips over official APIs: what TikTok and YouTube allow

How does boqo post to TikTok, Instagram and YouTube?

boqo is an AI media studio for creators: it turns long videos and live streams into short videos and posts them for you today, and generates whole series from scratch with Stories (soon).

The posting half of that sentence is Publish. It posts to TikTok, Instagram and YouTube from the same boqo account. With this release it does so over each platform's own posting interface: the TikTok Content Posting API, Meta's Instagram API and the YouTube Data API. The platform, not the posting app, decides what that access allows.

Publish is on Pro only. The pricing page marks it as not included on Free, Starter and Creator, and the Pro card lists it as posting to TikTok, Instagram and YouTube with 10 accounts and 900 posts a month ⁶. The rest of this article sets out what TikTok's and YouTube's APIs allow and limit, as their own developer pages state it, because those rules apply to any app that posts for you, boqo included. Instagram's API limits are not covered here.

What does the TikTok Content Posting API allow?

An app can post to a TikTok account only after TikTok approves it for the video.publish scope and the account owner authorizes the app for that scope ¹. Each account you run is a separate authorization, so a clipper with several TikTok accounts connects each one on its own.

TikTok audits apps that post this way. Its getting-started page says that all content posted by unaudited clients is restricted to private viewing mode, and that the audit checks compliance with its terms ¹. The content sharing guidelines add that an unaudited client can allow up to 5 users to post in a 24-hour window, and can only post in SELF_ONLY viewership, the only-me setting ³.

There are limits on volume too. The Direct Post reference lists an error for when the daily post cap from the API is reached for a user, and limits each user access token to 6 requests per minute ². TikTok does not publish the daily cap as a number on that page, so plan your posting so that a refused post can wait for the next day.

What does TikTok require a posting app to show you?

TikTok's content sharing guidelines shape the posting screen of every app that uses Direct Post. The upload page must display the nickname of the account that will receive the post, so you know which of your accounts it goes to, and the app should display a preview of the content ³.

The privacy level is picked by hand from a dropdown with no default, using the options your own account allows; the API wants a value that matches one of them ²³. Comment, Duet and Stitch toggles start unchecked, and any the creator has switched off in their settings are greyed out ³.

Commercial content disclosure is off until you switch it on. When it is on, you choose Your brand, Branded content or both, and branded content can only be posted with public or friends visibility ³. The app shows a declaration asking for your consent before the post button, and sends nothing to TikTok until you have expressly consented to the upload. The guidelines also say an app should not add promotional watermarks or logos to your content ³.

What does the YouTube Data API allow?

YouTube uploads go through the videos.insert method. The request needs one of the YouTube scopes the reference lists, such as youtube.upload, which you grant when you connect your channel ⁴. The method accepts video files up to 256GB ⁴.

Uploads are metered. The reference lists the method's quota impact as 100 calls per day, with each call costing 1 unit in the Video Uploads quota bucket ⁴. A posting app has to fit its uploads inside that bucket.

On visibility, the reference says videos uploaded from unverified API projects are not restricted to private viewing mode ⁴. It also says that a video with no privacy status set defaults to public, and that some uploads might default to private because of the creator's own account settings ⁴. If a posted Short shows as private, check your channel settings first.

TikTok and YouTube APIs side by side

The table puts each platform's rules for apps next to each other, as each platform's own developer pages stated them on the day this was written. These pages change, so the date on each source below is the date they were read.

Why use an official API instead of a posting bot?

YouTube's terms bar accessing the service "using any automated means (such as robots, botnets or scrapers)", with exceptions for public search engines and for use with YouTube's prior written permission ⁵. The upload method, by contrast, is the route YouTube documents for apps: the app asks for an upload scope, and you grant it when you connect your channel ⁴.

TikTok's route works the same way. The app needs TikTok's approval for the video.publish scope, and the account owner authorizes it ¹. Read your platforms' terms before you use any tool that posts by logging in as you and driving the app or the website.

The official route comes with caps, audits and screens the app must show you, as the sections above set out. Those are the platforms' own terms for apps that post on your behalf, written down where you can read them. This is not legal advice: read each platform's terms and each campaign's rules for the accounts you run.

What this means if you post clips to several accounts

Connect each account once, through the platform's own sign-in. On TikTok each account authorizes the app for itself ¹, and on YouTube each channel grants the upload scope ⁴.

Plan your volume against the limits that apply. On TikTok a post refused for the daily cap is a signal to spread posts across the day, not to retry at once ². On YouTube the upload method's quota is counted in calls per day ⁴.

If a campaign pays you to post, look at the disclosure options before you post. TikTok's guidelines set out a commercial content disclosure in the posting screen, with Your brand and Branded content choices ³. Whether a campaign needs that label is set by the campaign and the platform, not by the tool you post with.