YouTuber loses channel to AI error, wins legal battle, but YouTube still ignores him

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YouTube has faced ongoing criticism for unfairly banning and suspending channels. Recently, Endermanch, a creator with 350,000 subscribers, lost his channel after YouTube’s automated system mistakenly linked him to an account with copyright issues. Now, IANROCKS, who has almost 2 million subscribers, reports his main channel was demonetized due to what he believes was another technical error. The situation is so frustrating that even a creator who won a legal case against YouTube still hasn’t had their channel restored.

Legal victory? Not enough to beat YouTube’s AI moderation

Oleksandr, who runs the “Chase Car” YouTube channel, recently experienced an issue with his account. In 2024, YouTube’s automated system incorrectly flagged his videos as “reused content” and removed his ability to earn money from them. However, after a manual review by a human, his monetization was reinstated because the videos were confirmed to be original and comply with YouTube’s policies.

A few months later, in November 2024, YouTube unexpectedly closed his channel, claiming “spam and deceptive practices,” despite his content remaining the same. His attempt to appeal was immediately denied, so he brought the case to ADROIT, a dispute resolution body in the EU. In July 2025, ADROIT ruled in his favor, stating that YouTube was incorrect – they couldn’t identify any actual rule-breaking, and therefore his channel should be restored.

Even though he won his legal battle, his YouTube channel remains removed. He claims YouTube has ignored his attempts to contact them for months, responding only with automated messages. He believes this demonstrates a systemic bias against creators: even if they follow all the rules, receive human review, and win in court, YouTube can still disregard their rights. As he sees it, “if a legal ruling can be ignored, no creator is truly secure.”

He’s now submitting a formal complaint to Ireland’s data protection authority and is asking people to urge YouTube to follow the court’s ruling.

Oleksandr recently noted that YouTube’s artificial intelligence removed more than 5 million channels in the first half of 2025. The vast majority of these channels were taken down for issues like spam, misleading content, and scams – problems largely created by automated bots.

Starting in July 2025, YouTube began taking action against videos considered to be low-quality or made with minimal effort, often referred to as “AI slop.” While YouTube says this isn’t a new policy, they are enforcing existing rules more strictly, specifically targeting creators who heavily rely on AI to generate their content. However, because AI is used to help monitor videos, errors are likely, and creators like Oleksandr may have their channels mistakenly suspended or shut down.

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2025-12-01 18:02