Oleksandr Murashevych never thought that starting a YouTube channel to talk about cars would end with him taking the tech giant to court.
Within just two years, Oleksandr was creating four videos a week for his 20,000 subscribers and earning $2,000 (£1,500) every month.
But in 2024, YouTube demonetised his channel, Chase Car, in error, forcing the 35-year-old to share every detail about his channel to get it back.
Despite laying his channel bare, it was terminated by YouTube after they declared it as spam four months later, a decision Oleksandr blamed on automatic moderation systems.
‘The appeal process was a nightmare… So, I started to think, what can I do? How can I fight?’ Oleksandr, who lives in Poland, tells Metro.
Oleksandr did just that by filing a legal case against YouTube in March, with a European out-of-court settlement body ruling that the platform didn’t provide enough evidence to justify the ban.
‘It proved to me that I didn’t do anything wrong,’ he says. ‘I didn’t violate any policy and it showed me the termination process was wrong.’
Oleksandr isn’t alone – dozens of YouTubers have told Metro that the platform has banned their accounts.
Like Oleksandr, they are alleging that YouTube’s AI systems are at fault.
YouTube accused these amateur animators, Roblox gamers and true crime enthusiasts of peddling ‘scam/spam’ or breaking obscure rules.
Emails seen by Metro show that their appeals were rejected within minutes, despite sometimes having hundreds of videos.
This locked some out of hundreds of pounds worth of earnings, made through the YouTube Partner Program.
Many are campaigning on social media for YouTube to reactivate their channels, tagging TeamYouTube, in a bid for a ‘human’ to see.
‘I started YouTube to earn money for my family’
Niall, a student from Ireland, says his account with 500,000 subscribers was terminated for spam in October.
At the time, the 16-year-old had earned nearly £9,000, according to channel analytic data shared with Metro. He had only pocketed about £1,500, which he bought a new laptop with.
‘I think it’s bizarre that 300,000,000 people can enjoy your content but AI moderation and a time-crunched support worker to destroy it,’ he says.
After Niall tried and failed to resolve it with YouTube’s support live chat, his parents took over and tried instead.
Speaking on YouTube’s support live chat, Niall’s mum sent a lengthy paragraph denying the accusations of spam.
The agent replied in less than 20 seconds, adding that the account won’t be reinstated, according to a chat transcript.
Josh, meanwhile, lost his channel with 650,000 subscribers in November after YouTube listed it as ‘spam/scam’.
It was gutting, he says, because he would spend days making animated YouTube videos, texturising and editing the 3D models by himself.
‘I earned £2,900. After the termination, around £590 of my recent payments appear to have been withheld,’ Josh says.
‘I submitted my appeal at around 8.10am and it was rejected in three minutes.’
‘This story will be seen as one of YouTube’s darkest moments in its history’
YouTuber Shaz, 27, began to compile a list of deactivated YouTube accounts because of the ‘sheer volume’ he’d seen online.
Out of 260 accounts terminated since last January, 37 have been reinstated since, according to the database.
‘It appears as though the AI is occasionally mistaking human content with qualities of automated spam,’ Shaz says, stressing he only adds incidents he’s been able to verify.
‘I personally believe this story will be seen as one of YouTube’s darkest moments in its history.’
Among the restored accounts is the short story channel, The Dark Archive.
Alaa, the 25-year-old from Egypt behind the channel, amassed 17,600 subscribers after his second clip went viral.
‘Every day, I received dozens of supportive comments, many saying they were excited for the next video,’ he says.
What kept Alaa going, however, wasn’t the views – it was the hope that his channel could earn enough money to pay his brother’s medical bills.
‘When I told my family about my channel, and it was one of the happiest days of our lives,’ he recalls.
But Alaa’s account was terminated for ‘misleading viewers’, only for YouTube to U-turn after he campaigned on X for a second chance.
‘When it’s a small creator with no audience? They don’t care at all,’ he says.
Google is removing millions of channels – here’s why
YouTube acknowledged the concerns about terminations in blog post last November.
Nearly 5,000,000 channels were removed between January and June last year, the majority for spam/scam.
Most were upheld following further review, finding they had been churning out misleading, shabby or shocking content to farm engagement.
Others were under YouTube’s circumvention policy, which says creators can’t create a new channel to get around a ban.
Appeal times can vary, as while reviewers can refer to the content that was flagged for violating content, the verdict is not always clear.
YouTube told Metro: ‘We have used a combination of humans and AI to handle the scale and complexity of YouTube for many years.
‘We investigated thoroughly and confirmed that our Community Guidelines enforcement systems are working normally.’
TeamYouTube told creators the recent increase was driven by a rise in attempted financial scams from Southeast Asia.
Such explanations are of little comfort to Oleksandr. YouTube, he says, is where people can create content about the things they love.
Yet, with it being the top video-sharing site with no comparable alternatives, creators have few other options than to make an account.
‘After this horrible experience, I’d happily forget about YouTube,’ Oleksandr says, ‘but I have nowhere else to go.’
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