#IStandWithTheBanned – It’s Time to Back Up Your Google Account

Almost overnight, #istandwiththebanned has blown up on Twitter. And it all started because of a Markiplier Live Stream.

If you’re a Markiplier fan, you know he pioneered a Choose Your Own Adventure video style. This innovative use of the YouTube platform has been showcased in two Markiplier projects. A Date With Markiplier and the long-anticipated A Heist With Markiplier.

Both projects received a lot of praise from the YouTube community, and YouTube officially partnered with Markiplier to produce the A Heist With Markiplier series.

Sadly, YouTube is clearly not equipped to accommodate newer forms of innovation on the platform.

Why is #istandwiththebanned trending?

This week Markiplier hosted a Live Stream event where viewers used emojis to communicate, among other things, how excited they were about the creator and his work.

The Let’s Player also encouraged chat participants to use specific emojis to vote on decisions he would make during the stream.

It seems like Mark Fischbach, (the creator behind Markiplier), was looking to capitalize on the success of A Heist With Markiplier while viewer excitement was at an all-time high. Smart marketing, right?

On a different platform, it probably would’ve been a great idea. But according to YouTube’s Spam, Deceptive Practices & Scams Policy, this behaviour can be interpreted by moderator bots as “repetitive comments” and falls under “comment abuse”.

Now hundreds of fans who participated in the Live Stream event have had their accounts suspended by YouTube’s automated systems. At the time of writing, it appears most if not all appeals have been denied.

Why do Youtube account suspensions matter?

The creator has addressed the issue in the video below and is keeping fans updated on the situation. It looks like there is a solution in the works but no official news from YouTube.

If you’ve never had your YouTube account suspended before, you’re probably wondering why banned users can’t just make a new account. Good question.

What happens when Youtube Suspends an account?

Usually, when YouTube suspends or terminates an account, the stakes are highest for creators.

• You lose all videos you’ve uploaded to the site
• All linked channels and accounts are also suspended
• You cannot create a new YouTube account

If you’re a business owner or a marketer, you know that it takes years to build a brand that people know and love. Well, content creators on Youtube tie all their branding to their channels.

So what’s changed?

Unlike account suspensions of old, this time around, users have lost access to their Google Accounts. Go ahead and process that for a second.

When you sign up for YouTube, you must use a Google Account. And the majority of users prefer to use a personal or business email as opposed to creating a throw-away account.

This means that any fans that participated in the Live Stream have lost access to personal and business emails, any and registered Google products, including Google Drive files. One user, isis ruby, sums the issue up best with the following tweet.

Please @TeamYouTube, have this issue as a priority to fix. So many ppl can’t access their bank related emails, student files, work docs, etc. because mostly everyone uses google accounts for these things.#istandwiththebanned

— isis ruby ? (@wtrfllss) November 9, 2019

How do users submit an appeal request?

Currently, the only way to reactivate a suspended YouTube account is by filling in the contact suspension form. Trying to create another account to evade the ban will result in an immediate suspension as this violates YouTube’s Terms of Service.

It’s important to note that you should fill out the suspension appeal request as accurately as possible. Users only get one chance for appeal.

I don’t believe this fucking bullshit you guys have clearly seen that people are getting there google account suspended and you guys are ignoring it what kind of a platform this is can’t even do a simple job right #IStandWithTheBanned pic.twitter.com/y2lRjQ0SU7

— PMA GIRL(SUMMER) (@girl_pma) November 9, 2019

Edit: Situation Update

Although I have been unable to find any official announcements, it sounds like a few people have had their accounts reinstated. While this is good news, there is still no indication of whether the underlying issue is being addressed.

If you haven’t already, it is time to prepare a backup plan in the event your account is suspended.

It is fantastic that people are getting their accounts back, however we don’t know if the underlying cause of the bans has been fixed. I’m looking forward to seeing what @YouTube is going to do to prevent this from happening again. #istandwiththebanned

— Meg (@MzMarpeck) November 9, 2019

#IStandWithTheBanned I got an email this morning that my account is UNSUSPENDED! Thank you so much @markiplier for having our backs, I’m certainly never going to have a SHADOW of a doubt that you care about your community ever again. Fan for life now.

— Eevee Queen Liz (@KaninTheEevee) November 9, 2019

UPDATE: In the middle of the night @YouTube started giving us back our accounts but the people that had videos have them either locked or wiped entirely. That’s not good enough. Not by a long shot. And we’re not going away. #IStandwiththeBanned

— Alex Ghost (@useralexghost) November 9, 2019