SugarDotCookies posted:Julia, I went to youtube to see if I could report this scammer. You can report a channel, but you have to choose from specific reasons for reporting. There is no "someone hacked this account" choice or any other one that makes sense. Then I checked to see if you can report a video. You can, so for the reason, I chose "spam or misleading". Then you can type in a text box for further clarification. I typed in that someone hijacked your account. It said that these reports are monitored 24 hours a day. Perhaps you can ask others to report that video also? Under the Bill Gates video, there's a flag icon to the right of "like, dislike, share, save". Click the flag to report.
Thanks so much, Dotty! Glad you made that clarification. I hesitated to ask people to report the channel or any videos, for fear that they might not clarify why (YouTube reporting is a mess and very vague when it comes to reporting options), which could give YouTube reason to shut down the whole channel before recovering anything from it. But it sounds like you did the PERFECT thing. I actually couldn't report the channel or video for a while, as I had no account and I had to go through a unique and very specific process of setting up a new one (so if/when they restore the channel, all my stuff will go to this new place). By then, I had reported the hijacking issue four different times through two different paths that go directly to their hijacking experts - supposedly. I DID get an email confirmation this morning that just said they were working on it - nothing else.
With my social media posting, I am following a strategy followed by another big vlogger who was similarly hijacked a few months ago. Despite documenting everything as I have, YouTube proclaimed, after days of investigation, that no suspicious activity occurred on his channel, and they said they could not reinstate it. He was devastated, so he enlisted his whole social media following to do what I started on day one. I guess they ultimately saw that response and changed their mind, because he ultimately got his channel back. Not sure how long the whole process took, but about to check in with him and ask.
Anyway, TMI, I am sure. But it helps me to talk about it. THANKS AGAIN FOR YOUR HELP.