YouTube responds to AI concerns as 12 million channels terminated in 2025

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YouTube addressed concerns from a creator who noted the platform removed more than 12 million channels in 2025. This comes as YouTube continues to receive criticism for how it handles content moderation.

In December 2025, YouTube faced criticism after implementing AI to review content posted by creators. Many creators responded negatively, believing the AI had unfairly penalized their channels.

Some YouTubers believe YouTube’s AI is making mistakes. One creator thinks their video was flagged for “graphic content” because the AI misinterpreted laughter. Another claims a reaction video was removed due to “child safety” issues, even though the original video it reacted to remained online.

Even though creators have expressed concerns, YouTube CEO Neal Mohan announced the company will keep using artificial intelligence to monitor content. He explained that AI will improve their ability to find and remove content that breaks the rules, making the process more accurate and efficient at handling the large volume of videos uploaded daily.

YouTube’s CEO, Neal Mohan, stated the platform will continue developing and implementing AI-powered moderation tools, even after recent criticism. He also believes AI will empower a new generation of creators who may not have had the necessary skills or resources before.

— TopMob (@TopMob) December 8, 2025

YouTube responds to concerns after 12M channels terminated in 2025

Over the past few weeks, many creators have said their YouTube channels were penalized or shut down, and some believe YouTube’s artificial intelligence is responsible.

I was really shocked to hear that Nani Josh, a fantastic animator with over 650,000 subscribers, had his channel completely taken down by the platform back in November. Apparently, they claimed it was because of “spam or scams,” but he insists he never posted anything like that! It just seems really unfair.

On December 11th, he strongly criticized YouTube in a post on X, pointing out that the platform had removed over 12 million channels between January and September 2025. He believes this was likely caused by a malfunctioning AI system at YouTube.

He questioned whether it’s plausible that 12 million creators all broke the rules, posting on X. He asked if each case received a fair review by a person, or if YouTube’s automated system is simply shutting down channels at random.

These numbers should be alarming for anyone creating content on YouTube. Over just nine months in 2025, a staggering 12.46 million channels were removed from the platform – nearly 2.9 million from January to March, over 2.1 million from April to June, and more than 7.4 million from July to September. It makes you wonder…

— Nani josh (@mister_manners_) December 11, 2025

Surprisingly, the official Team YouTube account on X (formerly Twitter) responded to Josh’s post. They explained that the recent wave of channel bans was due to a financial scam originating in Southeast Asia, and clarified that a channel being terminated doesn’t always mean the creator is permanently banned.

You’re correct that we’ve removed over 12 million channels this year, but the number fluctuates. For instance, we removed 20.5 million channels in just the last quarter of 2023.

When a channel is removed, it doesn’t necessarily mean the creator behind it is banned. A single fraudulent account can actually control many different channels.

You’re correct that we’ve removed over 12 million channels this year, but the number changes from quarter to quarter. For instance, we removed 20.5 million channels in the last quarter of 2023. It’s important to note that the number of channels removed doesn’t equal the number of creators removed – a single person running a scam might create and operate hundreds of channels. This quarter,…

— TeamYouTube (@TeamYouTube) December 11, 2025

In addition, YouTube confirmed its decision to ban Nani Josh’s channel, stating that human reviewers on their policy team had correctly determined it violated their policies.

Users have had varying reactions to the website’s response, and many found its explanation of what happened confusing or unsatisfactory.

“We investigated ourselves and found no wrongdoing,” one joked dryly.

“You don’t even fix ‘mistakes’ unless a creator goes viral on X,” another argued.

YouTube recently restored the channel of popular Pokémon creator SplashPlate on December 10th. He had been suspended, and claimed the ban was unfair, stating another creator had stolen and re-uploaded one of his videos, leading to the initial removal.

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2025-12-11 22:49