I Lost My YouTube Channel
Hello Everyone
I have sad news to share. I lost my YouTube channel 2 weeks ago. I had my account terminated by YouTube for serious violations that I think I did not do. I appealed but the appeal failed and now they are ignoring me.
What Happened?
I had almost 300 videos on my channel and have never done anything wrong. The only thing I can think of is in my last video I spoke about 5 websites to do with horror and the last website I showed had some disturbing images that might have caused the issue.
I should have blurred or cut that part out but did not know what editing software would allow me to blur things out as I normally use Windows Movie Maker to edit my videos and it is quite basic. YouTube did not warn me or approach me about this issue and will not give me any details.
Everything was working fine when I first uploaded the video and 2 days later I suddenly lost my YouTube channel and account without warning. I was quite upset and sad for days following this because YouTube has been a part of my life full time for 2 and a half years and it was all gone just like that with a click of a button.
I also have a small group of loyal fans that were shocked and are very sad that this has happened. I also have a second channel associated with my terminated account which is still on YouTube but I can't access it. I still have questions such as can I still use my business channel which is on a separate account not associated with my terminated account but YouTube has stopped responding to me.
The Days That Followed
I wanted to take this matter further such as getting legal advice but instead I took a break from everything for a while and I'm now starting to feel better. It still hurts a bit that everything is gone and all I have left is the backup of my videos on my computer and external hardrive and my small business channel that I recently started.
I'm not really sure what I should do and I still need answers from YouTube as to what exactly happened and what video caused the violation and how but they wouldn't tell me and I haven't heard anything from them since. I also still have other unanswered questions like I discussed above.
The only good thing to come out of this situation is that I can now invest all of my time into my business which I'm planning to get back to soon. The purpose of this blog post is to share my experience and show how easily YouTube channels and social media accounts can be lost.
This is why I'm glad I have my websites and all online businesses should have a website because it is something you own and no one can take it away from you. I have learnt that having digital assets like websites and other digital assets that you own is best because you can't loose them and they can be more successful than social media and YouTube channels.
To all YouTubers reading this be very careful with your videos and don't make the same mistake I did. Make sure to double and triple check your videos before you upload them and take the time to ask questions and make the necessary cuts and edits to your videos to keep them in line with YouTube community guidelines.
Conclusion
I have no idea what is going to happen and if I am ever going to be able to get back on YouTube or continue using my business channel on my business account but I have definitely learnt a few things from this experience like have discussed in this blog post. I have no idea what the future holds but I'm going to work hard and try my best to achieve success and make good things happen.
I hope this blog post helps someone. Thank you for reading and I look forward to hearing your thoughts in the comments. Best wishes everyone.
Recent Comments
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Oh Tim, I am so sorry to hear this! This is so heartbreaking! The work you put for years is now gone? Hope you had those videos backed up, so when you get over this heartbreak, you can use some in another platform.
I appreciate you sharing all this to us, so we don’t fall in the same path! That was very generous and kind of you to do this! That speaks volume of the kind of character you possess. With that you have my respect!
Have a goodnight Tim!
Cheers,
Maria 🌹
Thank you so much Maria. Yes I have all my videos backed up on my computer and an external hardrive. I hope to be able to use them on another platform someday. I wanted to share this experience to hopefully help someone and save others the heartbreak I went through with loosing my YouTube channel.
I wanted to share it sooner but needed time to calm down and get my head around things. Now I finally shared it 2 weeks later. Thank you so much again for your kind words and taking the time to comment. You have my respect to. All the best to your success.
Maybe now that you have recovered a little, write a letter to YouTube to give you another chance. Apologize and acknowledge the mistake. Maybe they will give you another chance! There’s no harm in trying again.
Thank you Maria that is a great idea. I will do that one day soon. I will post updates here on WA if I here something. Thank you so much again for your kind words and for your comment. All the best to your success.
My pleasure Tim! We are family here in WA. We help each other out.
I wish you the best on this one.
Cheers,
Maria 🌹
Thank you so much again Maria. I agree we are all a family here on WA. It's great to know I have people I can trust and also people looking out for me. All the best to your success.
Thank you Tim!
Its just I feel that you should be given another chance to make it right.
And I also felt your heartbreak , as that hurts tremendously!
So, my prayer for the positive force be upon you Tim.
Enjoy the beautiful Sunday!
Cheers,
Maria 🌹
You're very welcome Maria. I feel the same way about YouTube and thank you for your kindness and understanding. It's now Monday morning here in Australia. It's a cold one today but a new week brings fresh opportunities. I hope you have a great day to. All the best to your success.
Hi Timothy,
First let me extend my condolences before getting to the harsh part.
I was concerned this exact thing was going to happen to you back in February when you posted this.
The Rise Of The Haters I had counseled you there to pull some of your videos, although I was concerned it was already to late.
I have no doubt that this is a result of that, and the haters who are like zealous cult members to the folks you were warning about continued on stalking and harassing you, in this case likely reporting any and all possible infringements they could come across.
You said
"I hope this blog post helps someone."
I would say I do as well. I know you felt you were doing a community service by warning against what you considered scammers.
But when one challenges others, one must be prepared for a strong pushback.
There are many gurus who will even advise to belittle competition to what one is promoting, and I always think when I see that folks need to be careful when going down that road for just this reason.
Again, my condolences. A costly lesson, and I know you must feel sick inside after all of the many hours you've put into this.
Best of luck in moving the videos elsewhere. I would make sure to understand all guidelines wherever you go in case the troll followers you have acquired follow you to the new platform.
Regards,
Jason
Hi Jason thank you so much for your condolences and well wishes. Thank you also for your detailed comment. It makes a lot of sense and I;m going to move on just focusing on my websites for now and then I might move everything over to another platform once I feel ready.
I will make sure I understand follow all the guidelines on the next platform I choose to move everything over to. I learnt a lot from my experience with YouTube which will be very valuable in the future and sharing my experience will hopefully help someone else avoid making the same mistakes I did.
Thank you so much again for your condolences and for your great and detailed comment. All the best to your success.
Regards
Timothy Balla
Hi, Timothy
Sorry to hear that. I agree with others about using your backed up videos on another platform.
You’ve already done all the work. You may have to edit them a bit to fit into a format change, etc., but it could be worthwhile.
All the Best! 😎
Frank 🎸
Thank you so much Frank. I agree using another platform is a great idea to. I will definitely keep it in mind and consider doing it. Thank you so much again Frank. All the best to your success.
Sorry to hear that brother... Quick question, you mentioned having your videos backed up on your hard drive, but after the channel was taken down, did you still have access to YouTube studio to download any videos you by chance hadn't backed up? Or is access to YouTube studio limited as well? Just curious.
Hello Eric Thank you so much for your kind words and for your comment. To answer your question no I didn't have any access to YouTube studio and I still don't.
I can't even login to my account on YouTube therefore I cannot access anything not even YouTube studio or my second channel. Luckily I had all my videos already backed up because I back them as I finish them and upload them.
I hope this helps you and answers your questions. I'm happy to answer any other questions you have. Thank you so much again for reading, stopping by and for your kind words and your comment. All the best to your success.
See more comments
Sounds bad. I'm sorry to hear that Timothy! I hope they'll recover your channel. Please, keep us updated if you're able to get in touch with them.
If I'd be in your shoes, I'd try everything I humanly can to get the channel back up. It must feel frustrating and devastating, but hopefully each experience makes us stronger.
You mentioned they didn't give any warning. Did the channel just go down overnight? You tried to log in and the channel just wasn't there? I'm surprised they didn't even give a warning.
I believe there's hope though because I've heard/seen other people's channels getting recovered even though they've been down at some point. Anthony Pompliano's channels for example last year was taken down but in 1-2 days it was back up. He has so many followers on Twitter though that it was easy for him to get in touch with YouTube.
Hello Roope
Thank you so much for your comment and for stopping by. Thank you so much also for your kind words.
My channel went down without any warning. I uploaded a video and all was working fine for 48 hours until I came home from an appointment and noticed my computer was logged out of YouTube.
I at first thought it was an error with my computer and tried to log back in but I couldn't I then tried on my laptop and still couldn't login so I checked my email and I had an email there saying my channel and account was suddenly terminated due to some severe violations they are accusing me of that I believe I did not do.
YouTube accused of some very appalling things that I did not want to say in this blog posts so no one gets upset. Now that I have calmed down I want to come up with plan to try and get it back. I was considering legal action at first but wasn't sure if I should do it not so I didn't do anything besides contacting YouTube. I appealed but it failed and they still wouldn't give me my channel back.
I then contacted YouTube on Twitter. They replied once still telling me that I can't have my channel back and I'm not allowed to even access my second channel even though it's in good standing.
I might not even be allowed to upload anything on my new channel that I created a few weeks ago for my business even though it is not associated with my terminated account and is on a different account. Since then YouTube has not responded to me anymore via email or on Twitter and won't give me details on exactly what happened.
I'm not giving up yet I just needed to take a step back and get my head together before doing anything further as I was really upset and stressed out. I have been using a spare Google account to watch YouTube and subscribe again to my favourite channels including yours.
I love your channel and have been a subscriber of yours for around 3 years. You and Mikael are my favourite make money online YouTubers and the only ones I trust in the make money online niche because you are both so honest.
I'm sorry for the long reply. I hope this answers your questions and gives you and anyone else reading this a better idea on what happened. I will keep everyone here updated as I hear more. I'm happy to discuss things further with you via PM here on WA. I'm open to anyone's advice at the moment and the community here is amazing.
Thank you so much again for your kind words Roope and for stopping by. Thank you so much also for taking the time to comment. I look forward to hearing more from you and I will make sure to read and comment on more of your blog posts to. All the best to your success.
Thanks for sharing the process Timothy and thanks for the kind words!
Sounds really sad if they won't recover the account. I don't know is it possible to start a new YouTube channel and re-upload some of the best-performing YouTube videos there.
You mentioned you can't access even another channel. Was it under the same email account or a different email account? If I understood correctly, it's under the same email account and that causes the issue?
Hello Roope
You're very welcome. I'm not sure if I'm allowed to start a new channel on a new account and upload videos there. I might get banned. They haven't given me much details or answered my questions properly.
Yes you understood correctly I can't access any other channels that are under the same email of the account that was terminated.
I can't login to YouTube at all with that account not even to watch other people's videos that's why I'm using a spare account just for watching videos and supporting my favourite YouTubers.
I hope this answers questions and I really hope they recover my account and give me my channel back. I'm thinking about writing a letter to YouTube about this situation now that I have calmed down. I don't see any harm in contacting them again.
Let me know if you have any other questions or advice. I'm sorry for the late reply. I was asleep and then I was not home all day. Thank you so much again for all of your interest and advice.
I will post an update on my WA blog if I hear something from YouTube. I look forward to hearing more from you. All the best to your success.