Entire Google accounts – including YouTube accounts, Gmail, Google Documents, and more – are being wiped out and banned by YouTube moderation staff for “spamming”. Specifically, they’re banning people who “spammed” red or green paddles during a Markiplier livestream.
The news was made available via a short near nine-minute video with Mark discussing how his fans were having their entire accounts banned simply for participating in a livestream event he held, where he was taking votes from followers using red and green emojis. Anyone who spammed the emoji didn’t just get banned from YouTube, their entire Google account was banned.
Markiplier posted up the video on November 8th, 2019, two days after the bans started.
As of the writing of this article, so far there have been no further updates from YouTube about restoring the users’ accounts.
He noted that he would continue to stay in contact with YouTube about the bans in order to get the accounts restored, but he hasn’t had much luck.
In fact, he made a tweet that garnered more than 45 thousand likes but YouTube still hasn’t responded.
Hey @TeamYouTube there’s a big problem that you need to address NOW — https://t.co/7mlpMqwMd4
— Markiplier (@markiplier) November 9, 2019
It’s quite obvious that they’re stonewalling the YouTuber at this point, even though he commands an impressive 25 million subscriber count.
Other YouTubers have also stepped up to discuss the situation as well, including TheQuartering, who did a video about YouTube’s next-level censorship spree.
So far the only thing that YouTube has said to those who have attempted to get their accounts restored is that they should try to appeal the decision, but if the appeals don’t work then the decision is final. Nearly everyone who has requested an appeal has been denied. Essentially, a lot of people are losing their accounts because they spammed a green or red paddle in a Markiplier livestream.
As pointed out in the video, some of these accounts are used for more than just watching YouTube videos. People are losing access to their Gmail accounts and other work-related services due to the ban. All of it, gone.
This seems to fit in line with YouTube’s censorship spree, as well as their growing presence as a totalitarian corporatocracy. One has to wonder if Markiplier’s P-score will be affected by his outburst, though?
[Update:] Team YouTube did respond to Markiplier’s tweet, indicating that hey would be restoring some of the accounts of those who were impacted by the bans.
Hi Mark – Apologies this happened and thanks for bringing it to our attention. The accounts have been reinstated and we’re looking into why the appeals were denied and how we can prevent this in the future.
— TeamYouTube (@TeamYouTube) November 9, 2019
One of Markiplier’s moderators also chimed in to note that people were still reporting being suspended due to YouTube’s antics, and the account notified the mod that they would be in contact via DM to help reinstate or restore some of the affected accounts.
Hi Meg – Yes we’re still looking into it, will send you a DM so we can get all the info
— TeamYouTube (@TeamYouTube) November 9, 2019
(Thanks for the news tip durka durka)