YouTube Circumvention Policy: Why Your Second Channel Went Down With the First, and the Appeal Routes That Exist
- YouTube's termination page says a terminated creator is "prohibited from using, possessing, or creating any other YouTube channels", and that this "applies to all of your existing channels". A second
- Running several channels is allowed (one Google Account can manage up to 100). What the policy forbids is keeping or opening channels after a termination, and posting content from terminated creators.
- The lever is the first termination. Appeal it within the one-year window; if it is reversed, the circumvention finding loses its basis, though no YouTube page says the linked channel is restored autom
- EU users can take the root termination to a certified DSA body such as Appeals Centre Europe (no user fee, decision must be under six months old). ACE says it cannot review suspensions that exist only
On 17 September 2026 a creator with two tech-tutorial channels lost both on the same day. The first was terminated for "Spam, Scams, and Deceptive Practices". The second, they wrote on r/PartneredYoutube, went down for "Circumvention" "simply for being run on the same Gmail/device/IP". The internal appeal, in their words, was "rejected within minutes by an automated bot".
The natural first question is how YouTube linked the two channels. That is the wrong question. YouTube's policy does not need to detect anything to take down your other channels: the termination rule covers every channel you already own. The only question that changes the outcome is whether the first termination was right, and there are three official ways to ask it.
What does YouTube's circumvention policy actually say?
"Circumvention" appears in two places in YouTube's help center, and they cover two different behaviors.
The first is on the Channel or account terminations page, under the heading "Circumvention of channel termination": "If your YouTube channel is terminated, you are prohibited from using, possessing, or creating any other YouTube channels. You are also prohibited from letting others whose YouTube channels have been terminated use your YouTube channel to bypass their termination." The next sentence is the one that matters for anyone with more than one channel: "This applies to all of your existing channels, any new channels you create or acquire, and any channels in which you are repeatedly or prominently featured."
The second is on the Additional policies page. Posting content previously removed for violating the Terms of Service, "content from creators with a current channel restriction, or content from creators who have been terminated is considered circumvention". The consequence: removal, and "your YouTube channel may also be penalized or terminated. This may also apply to other channels you own."
Read together, the rule is about ownership and appearance, not about devices. Once channel A is terminated, channel B that you already owned is prohibited by the text itself. So is a channel someone else owns if you are "repeatedly or prominently featured" in it, and so is a channel that re-uploads the terminated creator's videos. The Reddit poster blamed the shared Gmail, device and IP. Those may well be how YouTube connected the channels (the help pages we read do not list any linking signals), but they are not why the second channel fell. It fell because the same person owned it.
Hiding the connection between your channels would not make a second channel legal after a termination. It would only turn a policy consequence into deliberate evasion.
That is also why this article contains no advice on separating devices, emails or networks after a termination. Under the text above, doing so to keep a channel alive is precisely the prohibited act.
Running several channels vs opening one after a termination
None of this makes multiple channels risky in themselves. YouTube's own help page states that "You can manage up to 100 channels from one Google Account", through Brand Accounts. More in how many YouTube channels you can have and channels per Google account.
The difference is timing and use:
| Situation | What the policy text says |
|---|---|
| Several channels, no termination, each with its own content | Allowed; up to 100 channels per Google Account |
| Several channels posting near-identical material | The Spam policy applies to "coordinated networks of channels" and names "coordinated mass-production"; see same video on two channels |
| One channel terminated, others already existed | Prohibited from "using, possessing" them; applies to "all of your existing channels" |
| New channel created after a termination | Prohibited; the only sanctioned path is the "second chances" request after one year |
| Uploading a terminated creator's videos | "Considered circumvention"; may also apply to "other channels you own" |
A creator whose monetized channel was terminated on 24 September quoted the same termination text and asked: "And does it apply to other channels I already had before the termination?" On a plain reading of the text, yes. That also answers the most common mistake: if one channel is terminated and your others are still up, the text says you may not keep "using" them either, so do not keep posting on them while you appeal.
How to appeal a circumvention termination
Because the second termination rests on the first, the first one is where to put your effort.
- Appeal the root termination in YouTube Studio. The terminations page gives the path ("Begin Review", then "Start Appeal"), with a form as fallback. "Creators have up to 1 year from the date their channel was terminated to submit an appeal. There is also a limit on how many times you can appeal a single channel termination." Write one careful appeal, not several quick ones.
- Appeal the linked channel too, and say which one is the root. In the second appeal, state that the channel was terminated as a consequence of the other channel's termination and that the first decision is under appeal. We found no official page describing how YouTube handles linked appeals, so this is our suggestion, not a documented procedure. Appeals Centre Europe, the EU body discussed below, does not review linked-account suspensions, so make this request inside YouTube.
- Do not open a new channel while you wait. The text covers "any new channels you create". YouTube's second-chances post (9 October 2025) says appeals "are evaluated based on how our policies apply at the time of the appeal", and, in our reading, a new channel only hands the reviewer a fresh violation.
- After a year, the pilot is the only sanctioned restart. The Rejoining the YouTube Community page says terminated creators "are not eligible to request a new channel until one year after their termination date", and that it "won't be available to creators terminated for copyright infringement or those who have violated our Creator Responsibility policies". Approval gives a new channel, not the old subscribers.
Does the EU Digital Services Act give you another route?
If you are in the EU, possibly for the first termination. For the linked one, not at Appeals Centre Europe: it says it cannot review a suspension that happened "only because the platform linked it to a different account that was already suspended", nor decisions where the platform believes an account "was created to get around a previous ban or restriction". Other certified bodies on the Commission's list set their own scope, and ACE's rules say that when a dispute is eligible under the DSA but outside its own scope it issues a "Cannot Contribute" notice so you can take it elsewhere. Either way, the DSA route, like the YouTube appeal, is strongest for the root termination, with further limits below.
Google's DSA redress page allows referral to a certified out-of-court body when an account is restricted for a policy violation, and adds: "Google is not bound by any decisions made by these out-of-court settlement bodies." The European Commission's list confirms the bodies "do not have the power to impose a binding settlement".
Appeals Centre Europe (ACE) is the body the Reddit poster used, and its site names YouTube channel removals explicitly. It says it reviews decisions to remove a YouTube channel, but its eligibility list excludes linked-account suspensions, ban-evasion findings, decisions about account behavior such as automation or coordinated networks, and "Spam decisions related to technical or automated systems". A root termination for spam may therefore also fall outside it (spam decisions made on the basis of content are listed as eligible), so check its Rules of Procedure ("Is my dispute eligible for review?") before filing. The same site says "There is currently no user fee to submit a dispute", that the platform "must have made its decision in the last six months", and that it aims to decide within 90 calendar days (up to 180 for complex cases).
Its first report (November 2024 to August 2025) counted over 1,500 decisions, "more than three-quarters of which overturned the platform". The second (April 2025 to March 2026) says ACE disagreed with the platform 59% of the time "where we were able to review the content". Then comes the sentence that matters for a terminated channel: "In the vast majority of cases related to account suspensions, platforms are unable or unwilling to provide the content which allows us to independently review their decisions." Where content was missing, ACE began issuing "default decisions" for the user, which the platform is still not bound to follow.
The Reddit creator who got a channel back in six days did not rely on ACE alone. They also complained to Poland's Digital Services Coordinator, messaged TeamYouTube on X and had a legal-aid office draft a pre-litigation letter. We cannot tell which step worked, and the post does not say what happened to the second channel. It is one person's sequence, not a method.
For the money side of several channels, see multiple channels on one AdSense account. Where this article describes ACE or Google rules, their own pages are the authority.
FAQ
Can I make a new YouTube channel after my channel was terminated?
Not on your own. The terminations page prohibits "creating any other YouTube channels" after a termination. The only sanctioned route is the "request a new channel" option in YouTube Studio, available no earlier than one year after termination, rolled out gradually, and closed to copyright and Creator Responsibility terminations.
Why was my second channel terminated for circumvention when it did nothing wrong?
Because the policy applies to "all of your existing channels" once one channel is terminated. The second channel's own content is not the issue. Appeal the first termination; if it is reversed, ask for the linked channel to be reviewed on that basis.
How long do I have to appeal a YouTube termination?
Up to one year from the termination date, with a limit on the number of appeals per termination. For Appeals Centre Europe, the platform's decision must be less than six months old when you file, and linked-account suspensions are outside its scope.
Sources
- Channel or account terminations (Circumvention of channel termination) – YouTube Help – checked 2026-09-25 – support.google.com/youtube/answer/2802168
- Additional policies (Posting content from terminated or restricted creators) – YouTube Help – checked 2026-09-25 – support.google.com/youtube/answer/2801981
- Spam policy – YouTube Help – checked 2026-09-25 – support.google.com/youtube/answer/2801973
- Switch between channels on a Google Account – YouTube Help – checked 2026-09-25 – support.google.com/youtube/answer/3046356
- Second chances on YouTube – YouTube Official Blog – 2025-10-09 – blog.youtube/inside-youtube/second-chances-on-youtube/
- Rejoining the YouTube Community After a Channel Termination – YouTube Help – checked 2026-09-25 – support.google.com/youtube/answer/16369459
- European Union Digital Services Act Resolution Options – Google – checked 2026-09-25 – support.google.com/…/answer/13535501
- Out-of-court dispute settlement bodies under the DSA – European Commission – checked 2026-09-25 – digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/…/dsa-out-court-dispute-settlement
- Appeals Centre Europe (scope, exclusions, fees, time limits) – Appeals Centre Europe – checked 2026-09-25 – appealscentre.eu
- Rules of Procedure (section 8, eligibility) – Appeals Centre Europe – checked 2026-09-25 – appealscentre.eu/rules-of-procedure/
- Appeals Centre Publishes First Transparency Report – Appeals Centre Europe – 2025-10-01 – appealscentre.eu/…first-transparency-report/
- Transparency Report Shows Big Increase in Users Challenging Social Media Decisions – Appeals Centre Europe – 2026-05-28 – appealscentre.eu/…
- "VICTORY: Wrongfully terminated channel back in 6 days using the EU DSA" (user account, not verified) – r/PartneredYoutube – 2026-09-23 – reddit.com/r/PartneredYoutube/…
- "channel terminated this morning" – r/NewTubers – 2026-09-24 – reddit.com/r/NewTubers/…