Almost 2 months ago, my YouTube career was destroyed over videos I uploaded nearly a decade ago.
Not because I promoted terrorism.
Not because I supported a criminal organization.
Not because I encouraged real-world violence.
I did none of those things.
They were gameplay videos.
From a fictional video game: Yandere Simulator.
YouTube classified these old videos under its “Violent Criminal Organizations” policy and terminated an old, inactive channel of mine.
I had never violated that policy. I never promoted, praised or supported any violent criminal organization.
I appealed.
A few hours later, my appeal was rejected.
And because a terminated creator is prohibited from using, owning or creating other YouTube channels, one classification decision effectively destroyed the career I spent 14 years building.
Nearly 500,000 subscribers across my channels.
Years of videos.
Years of work.
Years of building communities.
All put at risk because of one classification decision.
But this is where things become impossible to understand.
Other creators were affected by the same Yandere Simulator enforcement issue.
Some of their channels were later reviewed again.
And they were reinstated.
One creator I spoke with even had his channel restored months after the original termination.
So clearly, these decisions can be reconsidered.
I appealed.
I contacted support.
I contacted
@TeamYouTube.
I provided new evidence.
I even challenged the decision through an independent EU-certified dispute settlement body — and the outcome was in my favor because YouTube had not provided sufficient information regarding its decision.
Yet I still cannot get the one thing I have been asking for:
A real, thorough human review of my case.
When I try to submit the new evidence through YouTube's appeal system, it simply tells me that my previous appeal was already denied.
Think about what that means.
If YouTube's systems make a classification mistake and your first appeal fails, how are you supposed to get that mistake corrected?
You appeal.
You contact support.
You contact
@TeamYouTube.
You provide new evidence.
And eventually, you realize how difficult it can be to get that evidence in front of a qualified human reviewer who can actually reconsider the decision.
This is bigger than my case.
Every YouTube creator should be concerned.
One wrong enforcement decision can erase 5, 10 or 15 years of someone's work overnight.
These aren't just accounts.
They're thousands of hours of work.
Years of someone's life.
Communities built over more than a decade.
Businesses people depend on to make a living.
In my case, it's 14 years of work and a community of nearly 500,000 subscribers.
Your videos.
Your community.
Your income.
Your career.
Everything can disappear because of one wrong decision.
And if that decision is wrong, getting someone to actually reconsider it can feel impossible.
At this point, I already know what may happen after posting this.
I may receive another generic response telling me that my case has already been reviewed and the decision is final.
Or I may receive no response at all.
But that's exactly the problem.
I don't need another automated or scripted response.
I need someone qualified to actually look at the new evidence, compare my case with the channels that were reinstated, and determine whether a classification mistake was made.
After nearly two months, I am still asking for the same thing:
A real human review.
I'm not asking YouTube to ignore its policies.
I'm not asking for special treatment.
I'm asking for the same opportunity other creators affected by this issue received:
A genuine human review of the classification and the new evidence.
@TeamYouTube, please actually look at what happened here.
I just want the opportunity to get my career back.
If you're a creator, or you believe creators deserve a real human review when something goes wrong, please repost this.
This can happen to any of us.