YouTube’s AI wrongfully linked channels to unknown accounts: creators
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Multiple YouTube channels were terminated in recent days, reportedly due to an error in the platform’s AI-based moderation system.
Several creators posted online saying their channels had been banned without reason, and they called the action “wrongful”.
According to VidIQ, the video platform’s system “falsely connected these channels to a user completely unassociated with them.” The company said “some of these channels were more than nine years old with hundreds of thousands of subscribers.” VidIQ added that YouTube has reinstated the affected channels, but only after creators used their online audiences to draw attention to the issue.
One such creator, who ran the Old Money Luxury channel, posted a video message on X asking YouTube to restore the channel. The creator said the channel had more than 2,30,000 subscribers.
VidIQ shared a screenshot of YouTube’s notice that was sent to one of the affected channels.
The message said, “We have terminated your channel because we concluded that it was linked to a channel that was terminated for having three or more Copyright strikes.” The notice also listed details of the linked channel. It then stated that a new YouTube channel cannot be created unless the linked channel is restored.
Many users commented on VidIQ’s post, which has more than 20,000 views. Most of them said they were also affected. Another banned channel named ‘tarkin’, which had more than 88,000 subscribers, was later restored after YouTube reviewed its appeal.
Creators also said that YouTube wrongly claimed that their channels were linked to a Japanese account, even though they had no connection with it.
VidIQ urged all creators to back up their content using Google Takeout. It said, “If you're a creator: back up your data through Google Takeout today, it might be the only proof you have that your channel ever existed.”
Meanwhile, TeamYouTube, the X account that posts official updates, has replied to some of the affected creators.
YouTube has also said that it plans to use AI to improve lower-resolution video quality on TVs.