DeGoogle Yourself @lemmy.ml Blu @sopuli.xyz 3 mo. ago

Today I ended up on the wrong side of the Google bot algorithm

Just about an hour ago, I received an email informing me that my YouTube account was terminated for violations of their "scams, spam, and deceptive content" policy. The email was long winded about how I must've uploaded something or other, or commented spammy/scammy content.

Just one problem: I have never uploaded a video in the 10 years I've had my account. I comment maybe twice a year when I actually have an answer to a question someone asked in the comments. I even paid for Premium for me and my family.

Well, guess I'm screwed because I doubt the appeal robot or whatever actually changes its mind when you submit one.

Glad I at least started deGoogling. This is a very close-to-home reminder of how dependent I am on them for their services.

20 comments

Welcome to the dark side.
- Better late than never lol. They really are a shitty company. Bots run the show over there. I just never thought it would be this bad until it was...
  
  I reduced my account usage by 99% in 2019 and then fully deleted it in 2023 after having used it very very little probably like one time a year after 2019. If that
- We lack cookies tho >:(
  
  Skill issue.
  
  Speak for yourself. I'm grown. I can have cookies whenever I damn well please. LOL
  
  I see that as a positive.
  
  Oh, you mean real cookies...
Almost exactly the same happened to me (though I had uploaded exactly one innocuous video a few months earlier) recently and my appeal was accepted within a couple days
- Good to know. Even if it does get unsuspended, I'm taking it as a wake up call. If that was my gmail account I would've been in a bad situation. I use it for almost everything.
  
  I prefer Microsoft Hotmail as they are way behind Google when it comes to monetisation.
Ultimately Google is going to do this to every customer in the end, its systems for detecting problems are buggy and you don't get to speak to a human to fix the problem so a simple automated error becomes fatal. Its going to happen at some point and its a lot easier to migrate when it all still works than afterwards when it doesn't.
They left the rest of your Google account alone? That’s interesting…

You always adblock on all of your devices, or most of them? Ever VPN?
- Yep. I have access to everything else, just can't view Youtube while signed in.
  
  I disabled my adblock for YT, but I still use privacy badger and occasionally a VPN.
  
  eugh, you disabled adblock? was it not uBlock Origin, our lord and saviour?
They flag u as a bot if u start blocking trackers.
- what if, to bypass "Sign in to confirm you're not a bot" for invidious and the likes, run the youtube site unmodified, and just monitor it
Well done! 💪🚀

This reminds me: what kind of Youtube replacement or quasi-replacement in the Fediverse? I've heard that Peertube may be difficult to maintain long term, which makes sense...
oh yeah the google banning accounts for no reason thingy

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