On 6th April I received a false copyright strike for four of my videos. I followed YouTube’s instructions and filed a counter-claim to reinsate monetisation on my channel and get those videos back. YouTube forwarded my counter-claim to the false claimant and, as a result, that person got hold of my IRL personal information. It turns out that person may well be an old stalker of mine. I don’t want to say who I think it is because the evidence is circumstantial and I’m not the kind of person who makes accusations I cannot back-up with solid proof. But, regardless of that, the claimant was malicious and YouTube basically doxxed me to them. That claimant is now using my personal information to pretend to be me and launch more false copyright strikes against other channels. YouTube is holding me responsible for their actions, since it’s my IRL name and info they’re using, and is now threatening to delete my channel for ‘abuse of the copyright system’ even though it is NOT ME DOING IT. I have spoken to Google Support three times. Each time only bots respond, not real people. I’ve tried calling Head Office of Google Ireland (the branch of YouTube that deals with UK channels like mine). I’ve contacted the YouTube Copyright Office via email. And I’ve @ ed TeamYouTube on Twitter. Every single time I am either ignored or talk to bots that give me pre-programmed responses on how to counter-claim a strike on my channel and then close the conversation, even though that’s NOT what’s happening to me. And all the while, my channel termination gets closer if I cannot sort this out in time.

So how can you help? Well, YouTube tends to listen best when there is a big, loud stink made about a problem by a lot of people. It’s harder to ignore a crowd of voices than it is to ignore the voice of just one creator. If you have Twitter, please @ TeamYouTube to get them to address the problem. If you prefer email, please send one to copyright@youtube.com saying you’re concerned about what’s happening to me and asking them to look into it, since no-one is responding to me anymore. Basically, get in touch with YouTube however you can, inform them of your concern about what’s happening and ask them to fix it. Maybe if we work together and make enough noise, we can save my channel. It’s not fair that I’ve followed all the rules and am still being punished for the actions of someone else stealing my identity.

TL;DR Version:

1. Nasty person submitted false copyright claim against YouTube creator they don’t like (me).
2. I had to submit my IRL info for the counter-claim, which YouTube sent to Nasty Person.
3. Nasty Person now using my info to submit false copyright claims against other channels.
4. YouTube threatening to delete my channel for Nasty Person filing too many false claims.
5. I’ve been given the run around trying to talk to a real person at YouTube and now need your help.

In the meantime, if you like any particular video on my channel, I’d advise you to save yourself a copy, since I cannot guarantee it will still be there by the end of the week if my channel gets terminated from this. Archive what you like and, if you can, please help me to keep it online.

Thank you for your time and be lovely to each other. I still believe in the inherent goodness of most people, no matter what this identity thief is doing to try to shake that belief.