How to Unban Yourself from YouTube

By C.D. Crowder

The YouTube community has a say in which users get banned.
i Todd Warnock/Digital Vision/Getty Images

Google tries to make YouTube a friendly community and has a strict set of guidelines that every user must follow. If you fail to follow these guidelines while uploading videos, making comments or otherwise participating on the site, you risk having your account permanently banned. If your account is terminated, you'll be notified and won't be able to access or use your account again.

Permanent Vacation

Once your YouTube account is banned, you can try to appeal the decision. If the appeal is denied, the ban is permanent. You'll be prohibited from creating another account or accessing any videos you have uploaded. All of your account data is removed, including all uploaded videos.

Three Strikes and You're Out

YouTube gives users a chance to fix any problems before an account is banned. Your account can be terminated for two reasons – violating the community guidelines or copyright infringement. For community guidelines, you get three strikes before your account is deleted. When you receive a strike, you'll be notified and have a chance to appeal it. The content that resulted in the strike is immediately removed. A strike only lasts for six months. If you receive three strikes within a six-month period, you'll be banned.

For copyright infringement, you still have three strikes which you can appeal. A single strike limits your account features; you can restore your account privileges by completing YouTube's Copyright School and not receiving any additional strikes for six months.

Getting a Second Chance

With over 100 hours of video uploaded to YouTube every minute, Google can't possibly directly approve every video uploaded. Instead, they depend upon the community to report violations. You have the chance to appeal any strike or even an account termination. Whether it's a community or copyright violation, you must fill out the appeal form (see Resources) and wait for YouTube's final decision. You don't need access to your account to fill out an appeal.

Regroup and Start Again

You can't gain access to your old account or create a new YouTube account with the same email address that you used to create the banned YouTube account. Your only option is to use a new email account to create a completely new YouTube account. You will have to start over, but you can use YouTube again, including uploading videos and commenting on other users' videos.

Avoid the Termination Nightmare

Once you create a new account, you want to make certain you don't get banned again. Carefully review all the YouTube guidelines before uploading any new content. Anything that could violate copyright laws should be avoided at all costs. Videos with sexual content, violence and vulgar language will lead to an age warning on your videos. Any content that contains hate speech, cyberbullying, threats, spam or child endangerment could result in your account being banned.

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