YouTube accidentally bans many accounts, mistakenly labeling them as spam, working to reinstate them

YouTube has recently removed channels and banned accounts due to violations of its “spam, deceptive practices, and scams policy.” These removals have affected users who have never uploaded videos, leading to a loss of access to their YouTube accounts, including the inability to watch videos or listen to YouTube Music. Additionally, YouTube Premium subscribers have been impacted, with playlists and other saved content becoming inaccessible when an account is banned.

Users have been informed about their account bans and channel removals through emails and many have expressed frustration over the loss of access, particularly to saved playlists and music libraries. Some users have reported success in appealing the bans, with their account access being restored. However, there are also reports of users not seeing their playlists after the appeal, while others have had their access fully restored.

YouTube’s response

YouTube has acknowledged the issue and is actively working to reinstate the affected channels and restore access to paid YouTube TV, YouTube Premium, and YouTube Music subscriptions. Those who have been reinstated but are missing playlists will have their content restored soon.

In other news, YouTube has announced updates to its Shorts feature. Starting on October 15, the platform will increase the video limits for Shorts from one minute to three minutes. This update will apply to any Shorts that are square or taller in aspect ratio and will not affect videos shot before October 15. 

Additionally, YouTube is introducing a preview of comments in the Shorts feed and is working on allowing users to create remix clips by pulling clips from across YouTube through the Shorts camera. This feature was first released in early 2024, enabling users to strip audio, use the video as a background, cut a piece of it to use in their Shorts, or put it side-by-side with their creation.

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