Explained: What can get you banned on YouTube and how to revoke the termination – Times of India

Google’s YouTube team regularly monitors the videos uploaded on the video streaming platform for discrepancies. Whenever Youtube finds a video violating its community guidelines and policies or when there is a copyright infringement, the company either takes down the video or terminates the account or channel from where the video was initially uploaded. The Google-owned video streaming platform also relies on user reports and government orders to take down videos and ban channels.
Recently, the government discovered six YouTube channels spreading fake news to its nearly 20 lakh subscribers. Press Information Bureau’s (PIB) Fact Check Unit which is a part of the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting revealed that these six channels were working in a coordinated manner. PIB also claimed that these channels are spreading false information and their videos had over 51 crore views.
Six YouTube channels may get banned
As per the PIB statement, these YouTube channels were found spreading fake news about the elections, and proceedings in the Supreme Court and Parliament along with the functioning of the government. The statement also mentioned the names of the channels which were — Nation TV (with over 5.57 lakh subscribers), Samvaad TV (with 10.9 lakh subscribers), Sarokar Bharat (with 21,100 subscribers), Nation24 (had 25,400 subscribers), Swarnim Bharat (with 6,070 subscribers) and Samvaad Samachaar (with over 3.48 lakh subscribers).
According to a report by PTI, a senior official claimed that the channels named Samvaad Samachar, Samvaad TV and Nation TV changed their names to Inside India, Inside Bharat and Nation Weekly, respectively, after being “busted” by the Fact Check Unit of PIB.

How did these channels function
The statement claims that these channels are a part of a “fake news economy” that thrives on the monetisation of fake news. The videos on these channels not only included false claims regarding the ban on electronic voting machines but also included false statements attributed to senior constitutional functionaries including the President and the Chief Justice of India.
Moreover, the statement also explained how these channels use “fake, clickbait and sensational thumbnails and images of television news anchors of TV channels to mislead the viewers”. These channels make their followers believe that the news was authentic and drive traffic to their channels to monetise the videos published by them. Last month, PIB’s Fact Check Unit exposed three channels peddling fake news and even wrote to YouTube to take them down.
What happens to banned Youtube channels/accounts
When YouTube bans an account or channel, the owner of the same may not be allowed to use, own, or create any other YouTube channels/accounts. YouTube sends the channel owner an email explaining the reason for the termination after a channel is banned.
How can your channel/account get banned on YouTube
YouTube can terminate a channel/account for repeated violations of the Community Guidelines or Terms of Service across any form of content. For example, if a channel or an account repeatedly keeps posting abusive, hateful, and/or harassing videos or comments, it can get banned by Youtube. The video-streaming platform can also ban your account if there is even a single case of severe abuse like predatory behaviour, spam, or pornography.

Moreover, channels or accounts dedicated to a policy violation like hate speech, harassment, or impersonation can also get banned. Apart from this, Youtube can also terminate an account or channel due to copyright infringement claims. However, the platform allows the owners of the channel to download their data even after the channel gets terminated.
How to appeal to YouTube to revoke the termination
Owners of banned channels and accounts can also appeal to YouTube if they believe that their channel/account was terminated by mistake. Channel owners have to submit a form to YouTube to appeal for unbanning. However, channel owners need to remember a few things while filing the appeal form.
YouTube suggests users submit an appeal request only once as multiple requests increase the volume to review and cause delays in the response. The company also asks appealers to fill out the form as completely as possible and even add their Channel ID. The more information the user offers YouTube, the easier it will be for the company to process their request.
Meanwhile, in the case of copyright infringement claims, if the channel owner thinks that the claims are incorrect, can also file a counter-notification. This process is still available for creators with terminated channels, but the counter-notification in the web form will be inaccessible. In that case, users can submit a free-form counter-notification.
Also Watch: