YouTube Erased Nearly 2,000 InnerSelf Videos—and Banned Us for Life
Over six to seven years, InnerSelf published nearly 2,000 videos on YouTube. During that time, we received one copyright allegation concerning a Creative Commons image. We challenged it, and the allegation was removed.
On September 10, 2026, YouTube permanently terminated our main channel for alleged “severe or repeated violations” of its impersonation policy. It also banned InnerSelf and its owners for life from using, owning, or creating other YouTube channels.
Apparently, we were impersonating ourselves. Our own InnerSelfcomMusic channel carried our own name. YouTube left that channel online, but we cannot add to it or delete it.
When we challenged the obviously wrong impersonation allegation, YouTube changed its explanation to “spam, scams, or other deceptive practices.”
Nearly 2,000 videos. Six to seven years of work. One copyright allegation that was withdrawn. Then our channel was erased and its owners banned for life—with no prior warnings and no specific offending material identified.
We asked: Which video? Which description? Which link? What exactly had we done?
YouTube replied: “Unfortunately, we're not allowed to provide the specific content that might have caused the violation.”
A lifetime ban, based on evidence we are forbidden to see.
YouTube hosts abundant spam and offensive material, yet it condemned InnerSelf under a sweeping accusation it refuses to substantiate. “Spam, scams, or other deceptive practices” becomes a catchall when the company will not identify a single example.
We offered to correct any actual violation. YouTube would not identify one. Instead, it changed the accusation and kept the punishment.
Calling something spam does not make it spam. Repeating a policy does not establish a violation. An appeal cannot be meaningful when the accused are denied the information needed to answer the charge.
A corporation powerful enough to erase years of a publisher’s work and impose a lifetime ban should be accountable for that decision. YouTube’s power does not make its accusations true.
InnerSelf has been publishing since 1984. We stand behind our work and reject these unsupported accusations. We will not quietly remove our YouTube link and pretend those years of work never existed.
Our work continues here at InnerSelf.com.
