Do you happen to have any actual cases you can point me to? I see this all the time in HN but it's never beyond "a buddy of mine said that he didn't do anything wrong and somehow they got locked out forever with no recourse".
Or it's someone saying that happened to themselves, and then they say they never did anything bad with their gmail. Which may or may not be true?
> Unfortunately, and for reasons that are still unclear, this triggered YouTube's auto-detect system for spam. Hundreds of accounts in Mark's 'community' have been banned. ... Being banned from your YouTube account is one thing; ... However, these fans' Google accounts were banned, meaning they lost access to their emails, ...
The accounts may have eventually been reinstated, but to me it showed a willingness to ban an entire google account from a minor infraction in some individual service, which I was just not comfortable taking the risk on.
Not exactly the same as what you're responding to, but very similar.
I got locked out of my Gmail for a few years because I moved internationally and Google decided it just didn't like my new ip. I had access to the recovery email and would even get, "someone attempted to sign in emails." But Google just wouldn't let me in at all. I contacted support and they were no help at all. I tried to vpn back to normal locations but at that point I was flagged or something. I would try every few months after I gave up. About 3 years later it just magically let me in and I got all my stuff back. Still have no actual idea why it happened.
One good case I can think of is Crinacle. Very popular for his audio measurements site and does YouTube.
His Google account got flagged for something suspicious, Google had it shut down and without good explanations. He can't even get help through YouTube support and while the old channel remains, the Google account behind it appears disabled today. The only choice he had was to file a request that lead to nowhere and he basically had to start with a new account and channel.
"The only choice he had was to file a request that lead to nowhere and he basically had to start with a new account and channel."
Incorrect.
Yes, that was, indeed, the only choice he had that was free, and from his living room, but he did have other choices.
Specifically: serving google with proper legal papers from his own lawyers that require responses. That costs google money. The money just keeps adding up and eventually a real person who has decision authority will look closely at the issue and fix the issue.
Assuming, of course, that the banning was improper - which I think we are all stipulating here ...
Or it's someone saying that happened to themselves, and then they say they never did anything bad with their gmail. Which may or may not be true?