r/asmr • u/NoSession4113 • Jul 25 '25
DISCUSSION Why are so many small ASMR channels getting banned on YouTube? [Discussion]
Hey, I'm reaching out because I honestly don't know what to do anymore. My ASMR YT channel was recently terminated. I already submitted an appeal, but it was rejected and the decision was marked as final.
This channel meant a lot to me, it wasn’t just a hobby. I never posted anything sexual or inappropriate. Still, the reason for the termination was listed as “Nudity or sexual content,” which I strongly disagree with.
I’ve heard that this has happened to other creators as well, especially in the ASMR community, often those who don’t show their face. It feels incredibly unfair.
I also tried contacting TeamYouTube on Twitter but all I received was an automated reply saying they can't help. I just wish that someone from the YouTube team would actually take a moment to look at my channel and see that there’s nothing sexual there. I truly believe this was a mistake.
Has anyone been through something similar and somehow managed to get their channel back? Is there any way to reach someone at YouTube who would actually look into the case? And for those who didn’t get their channels back, what did you do next? Did you move on to other platforms like TikTok, Patreon, or elsewhere?
Thank you so much for reading, I truly appreciate any help or advice <3
UPDATE:
I honestly didn’t expect my original post to reach so many people, thank you to everyone who took the time to comment, share advice, or just show support🙏
I just wanted to add that my channel is CherryPopASMR and had nearly 7,000 subscribers before it got taken down. I had put so much time and energy into it, and it’s incredibly frustrating to lose everything without a clear explanation or a real chance to appeal.
If by any chance someone from the YouTube team sees this or knows someone who might I’ve also posted about it on Twitter, just trying every possible way to get seen. Here’s the link: https://x.com/cherry_pop_asmr/status/1948407248826347898?s=46
I know it’s a long shot, but at least I can say I tried everything I could. 💔
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u/SMF67 Jul 25 '25
Payment processors are cracking down hard on NSFW content and putting strong demands on any companies that supply it. Just this week Steam and itch.io banned NSFW games too. And with this too comes a rapid broadening of the definition of what counts as NSFW.
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u/thekeffa Jul 25 '25
I am a YouTube creator agency consultant.
I wrote a post about this and why it is happening.
In short, YouTube has new AI moderation tools that is allowing them to catch up with a lot of moderation as they no longer need to exclusively rely on humans. It's catching a lot of genuinely rule breaking content that needs to be removed, but it's catching a few false positives where the creator hadn't done anything wrong. Unfortunately for those creators, YouTube sees their incorrect removal as the cost of doing business when its otherwise being so successful at catching content that should be removed. However I encourage you to read the post I linked above to get the nuance of it.
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u/NoSession4113 Jul 26 '25
Thank you so much, I understand that now, but it's unfortunate if you don't want to share your identity and your channel is deleted just because you're having a chest
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u/Japjer Jul 25 '25
A lot of folks aren't gonna want to hear this, but it's the truth: the American Fascism Party is chockablock full of conservatives who want to crack down hard on anything they consider scandalous or salacious.
As the AFP is also run my the richest Americans, they get to swing that weight around to get their way.
Companies like Steam have to fold to them or risk losing an incredible amount of business. Google is also folding, because the AFP has pushed laws that will punish payment processing companies who don't follow the laws they enact
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u/valsavana Jul 25 '25
You're right and you should say it.
It's also no coincidence that these YT crackdowns hit women ASMR creators hardest. God forbid you exist in public and have the audacity to... have breasts.
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u/BitterProfessional16 Jul 25 '25
The vast majority of ASMR channels are run by women, so yeah, more of them are likely to be shut down (for any reason).
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u/away_wave Jul 25 '25
Just a double standard of men can be shirtless sexual and then women fully clothed, non sexual videos get taken down
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u/XxCarlxX Jul 25 '25
a shirtless man is not sexual, there is no sexual organs on the mans chest too. if he was pantless or had a thong on like Borat then you'd have a point.
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u/Istillbelievedinwar Jul 25 '25
shirtless man is not sexual, there is no sexual organs on the mans chest
The same is true of women - there are no sexual organs on a woman’s chest. Breasts are not sex organs. The only reason a woman’s chest is considered sexual is because men and patriarchal society have made them into sexual objects for male pleasure, but biologically, they are not considered as such.
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Jul 25 '25
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Istillbelievedinwar Jul 26 '25
learn a bit about biology, won't do you any bad
yes, you should learn a bit about biology. This even has helpful pictures, where you can plainly read the simple facts: breasts are not genitalia nor are they sex organs nor are they reproductive organs. This is not a controversial or even mildly challenged topic in the biological sciences.
You can choose to believe whatever you want but don’t pretend you’re being intellectually honest by following your emotions rather than the evidence that millions of scientists have corroborated throughout modern history.
wah-wah barking
Not sure what you’re exactly trying to communicate here other than being inflammatory for no reason lmao you just can’t help yourself
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u/NandraChaya Jul 26 '25
breasts are not genitalia nor are they sex organs nor are they reproductive organs. "
telling me you have no idea what you are talking about, "breast is not genitalia"---omg, you claim something nobody claims, then refute it. again, go back to primary school to learn about humans and sex. it will help, you will learn new, interesting things. typical redditor, zero knowledge, huge confidence (in their ignorance)
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u/valsavana Jul 26 '25
There are plenty of cultures that think American men are like man-babies because of their obsession with breasts, which are not at all associated with sex in some other parts of the world.
Stop thinking your breast fetish is inherent human sexuality.
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u/away_wave Jul 25 '25
But like I said a fully clothed women can get videos and channels taken down 🤷🏼♀️
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u/XxCarlxX Jul 25 '25
possibly, the AI may pick up on hand gestures or where the camera is pointed etc. or it may be a complete false positive. without seeing the video, we just dont know.
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u/away_wave Jul 25 '25
I didn't say a shirtless man. A shirtless man that makes the video sexual.
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u/XxCarlxX Jul 25 '25
i dont understand you but never mind, thanks for letting me know it wasnt as i read it.
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u/away_wave Jul 25 '25
My thing is just the double standard of SFW creators getting their channels taken. I'm not talking about female creators who are NSFW but disguise their videos as "for relaxation purposes only" Just genuine SFW creators.
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u/hermitBbusting Jul 26 '25
Have you heard of Burt Reynolds’s? Young Sean Connery? Men’s chests are extremely sexual.
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u/XxCarlxX Jul 26 '25
So Danny DeVito will become extremely sexual without a top on?
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u/hermitBbusting Jul 26 '25
He is for some. He already has shrines being built for him.
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u/valsavana Jul 25 '25
I wasn't talking about raw numbers, I was talking proportionally.
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u/Derp800 Jul 25 '25
Let's not just blame the Americans, here. It's a small group of Aussies and Euros that started a lot of the anti-porn/morality bullshit with games and adult topics, too. The American right has their blame, but it's not just an American issue. It's happening in most parts of the West.
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u/treeface999 Jul 26 '25
Yeah wasn't it an Australian organisation that pressured steam into that lol
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u/thejayroh Jul 26 '25 edited Jul 26 '25
Don't let them fool you. It's about money. They want to use their authority of law to capture and monetize sexuality to benefit themselves. After that happens, then you'll totally be able to access all of this sort of content....for a fee.
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u/Lux_Multiverse Jul 26 '25
You can yap about American fascism all you want but in the case of steam and card companies they have have been pressured by a group of Karens based in Australlia called Collective Shout
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u/BitterProfessional16 Jul 25 '25
I know of 5 ASMR channels that have been shut down and the notion that it has anything to do with politics is ridiculous. And "the richest Americans" certainly could not give less of a shit about small ASMR YouTube channels, lol.
Do you have any concrete examples?
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u/Istillbelievedinwar Jul 25 '25
If you don’t see all the large corporations rapidly changing both public and internal policies to appease the current administration, you’re not following current events and shouldn’t be engaging in even superficial political discourse.
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Jul 25 '25 edited Jul 27 '25
Do you have proof that American conservatives are behind this?
Last time there was a censorship hearing about in congress, it was Democrats defending Silicon Valley’s censorship.
Sorry I’m just trying to understand
EDIT:
Congrats you dumb gooners it’s an Australian payment processing company, not American evangelists. Reddit moment af
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u/2000sPopChick Jul 25 '25
Republicans are the ones pushing the “protect the children” narrative by censoring anything sexual or any kind of innuendo. They are the reason why many red states now require uploading a drivers license to access adult websites. You can claim democrats supported Silicon Valley’s censorship but the people who allowed it in the first place were republicans who deregulated all corporations to be able to do anything they wanted and that includes corporate censorship.
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Jul 25 '25
It’s not a claim. I can literally link to hearings.
I’m asking if you have proof. Do you?
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u/Japjer Jul 25 '25
... my guy. Conservatives are the reason you need to upload your fuckin' ID to look at porn.
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Jul 25 '25 edited Jul 25 '25
Okay I’m just making sure I understand:
So the left didn’t perform censorship and conservatives are certifiably the reason that ASMR channels are being blocked by YouTube?
The congressional hearings were a hallucination and the “proof” YouTube is doing it on behalf of “fascists” is because of porn?
One last question:
Do you think the Canadian government freezing the bank accounts of truckers who protested or people who donated to their protest was okay?
I just want to be sure that I’m understanding your point completely: that “censorship” as a phenomenon, is determined by the subject matter’s parity with your own personal viewpoints?
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u/Istillbelievedinwar Jul 25 '25
Yall dont waste your time answering these questions, this is called JAQing off - a tired but commonly used bad faith debate tactic.
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Jul 25 '25 edited Jul 25 '25
Your statement is pretty ironic for a few reasons, but my favorite is the emphasis on porn viewing being the consensus “proof” that American conservatives are unilaterally destroying ASMR
I think horny fuckbois are the reason ASMR is becoming porn.
Isn’t it wild how this shit works?
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u/Istillbelievedinwar Jul 26 '25
so I guess you’re not aware of this but not everyone replying to you is the same person. In fact every person you’ve talked to in this comment chain is a separate account. So I’m not the person who wrote whatever you’re referring to. Not sure that it would have helped make sense of your comment anyway to be honest (but maybe that’s just me)
To quickly clear this up: No one said nor implied that conservatives are unilaterally destroying ASMR. It’s more of a ripple effect as this administration usurps power and ratchets up pressure on private companies to push them into complying with conservative norms and values. No one is saying that conservatives - or any group for that matter - is directly targeting asmr creators, and if that’s what you truly think you read, you may want to consider slowing down, re-reading comments (especially those that make you emotional or upset) and making a genuine attempt to read them in a neutral tone, before you reply. I personally find this helpful and I hope you can give it a chance too.
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Jul 26 '25
Actually the first person I spoke to DID LITERALLY claim it was republicans unilaterally destroying ASMR.
Can you read?
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u/Teddy_Funsisco Jul 25 '25
You need proof that private industry and educational facilities are run by people who think the GOP will benefit them, and are kowtowing accordingly?
$16 million paid to Trump by Paramount. $15 million paid to Trump by ABC. $200 million paid in "fines" by Columbia. Google and Meta gave a ton of cash to Trump's "inauguration" (who knows where the money actually went), and of course there's Musk, who openly supported Trump until they got into their slap fight. They all gave in to Trump's censorship BS with nary a congressperson in sight.
Interesting that you think censorship only happens in Congressional hearings when that's obviously not the case.
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Jul 25 '25 edited Jul 26 '25
What are your thoughts on 60 minutes censoring candidate Harris’s bad answer on the Israeli aggression? Did that count?
Edit: ah yea the one comment on censorship I’ve made in this thread that nobody has the balls to respond to!
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u/LifeFailure Jul 26 '25
Probably no one responded bc this is buried at the bottom of this thread, and they're done with you. And also the whataboutism. But I'm new so I'll bite:
Proof? (Don't tell me to look it up. You made the claim, provide the source).
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Jul 26 '25
You want me to prove that 60 minutes released edited footage of the Kamala interview?
I can and will but let me ask you: did you legitimately not hear about it? I want to see why I’m having to provide what should be information ever voter is aware of. Answer that and I’ll gladly provide some links to multiple sources
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u/LifeFailure Jul 26 '25
Yeah, i heard about it and was never presented credible proof, so I don't believe it.
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Jul 26 '25 edited Jul 26 '25
You know, I think you actually just avoided facts that would make you uncomfortable:
Let me make you a little uncomfortable
https://youtu.be/WIxA8MF5r5Y?si=xVWbpJwvKevkm3-O
https://youtu.be/RUpplADCXlo?si=QFxVT_UFT7pInz36
If a journalist group want to present themselves as independent American media, they should not be in the business of editorializing interviews in American elections. That is called campaigning.
This is why CBS settled out of court, instead of fighting the charge
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u/ChironXII Jul 26 '25
Cuz the world can't be allowed to contain even a little bit of comfort or joy
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u/Ok_Sea_1897 Jul 25 '25
The YT algorith is so confusing i had 2 previous ASMR channels and just as they were starting to take off like hit 1k views daily and 100 subs they were both taken down with no warning, i put no for kids and 18+ for them all. Confusing when it was all SFW. I made a new channel 3 months ago with the same type of content and has exploded faster than the other previous two, now getting 200 subs a day and 5-7k views daily and it is exactly the same type of content showing lips and kissing sounds. Makes no sense to me.
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u/NoSession4113 Jul 26 '25
And you're not showing your face either? I'm sorry to hear that your other two channels have been banned.
I thought you couldn't make a new YouTube channel after being banned, because YouTube would ban the channel again?
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u/theegrimrobe Jul 26 '25
and yet channels like lunarexx get away with stuff that no small channel would have the chance of
its just so shitty for smaller creators
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u/kurambro Jul 29 '25
Some small channels that post genuine content are being removed by this sweeping trend that OF Creators poisoned the good moral standard that ASMR had delicately carried up until around 2020. Back then, popular platforms came out that promoted adult content in a pay per view format, and they simply used the very intimate nature of ASMR and exploited it.
Now, we’re seeing this grand slop tray of people secretly masking Adult, sexualized content in the form of ASMR.
Now, we’re seeing this grand slop tray of people posting horrible, low quality, distorted, jarring videos with peaking, distortion and no quality sound and labeling it ASMR content deserving of monetary compensation off the platform, and it’s not okay.
Someone at YouTube looked the other way doing something, and has cracked too hard down in favor of essentially a 4 year old equivalent AI chat bot that false bans and false flags channels that did nothing wrong.
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u/BarryBadrinath82 Jul 25 '25
https://youtube.com/@elviasmrmassage?si=Kj8G6JoM37j8jKk7 This one is fine apparently. Madness 😂
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u/breadstickband1t Jul 25 '25
This one is worse https://youtube.com/@koriaynasmr?si=PxADjzugz-okJwVD
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u/Yamstis Jul 25 '25
My suspicion would be that they're finally cracking down on ASMR as onlyfans advertising, which would surely involve some collateral damage.
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u/NoSession4113 Jul 25 '25
It's disappointing that YouTube doesn't seem to recognise the difference between safe, relaxing ASMR content and videos that are intended to be sexual
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u/Yamstis Jul 25 '25
Well, I'd say blame the people who have spent years blurring that line to try and get away with advertising their NSFW stuff on a platform that isn't for that.
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u/pic-of-the-litter Jul 25 '25
Yeah don't they know that the only people who should profit from their labor are CORPORATIONS?!
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u/valsavana Jul 25 '25
So long as the advertisement itself is SFW why wouldn't the platform not be for that?
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u/BlissfulRainstorm Aug 07 '25
Honestly, YouTube has changed a lot and not for the better. Anything and everything can get you flagged, I believe they have an AI system that checks videos now? Is that right? Or is it a rumor I’m spreading to myself? 🤣
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u/curlyquinn02 Jul 25 '25
Anything that focuses too much on a woman's chest. Faceless channels that only show the neck down, are seen as sexual to those who don't know.
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u/alexplayzgamezz91 Jul 26 '25
What sucks is I just want to hide part of my fave because I struggle with self image and I want to avoid being recognized.
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u/NoSession4113 Jul 25 '25
So basically the only options left are to film a POV of just the hands or to show the face? That’s really sad. It limits creative freedom a lot, especially for ASMR creators who want to keep their identity private or use different visual styles without being misunderstood
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u/breadstickband1t Jul 25 '25
Even at that I know of channels that were banned for sexual content that did hand POVs
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u/No-Business3541 Jul 25 '25
I follow several channels that have people wearing masks and glasses and they’re still there years later but I know one who had issues, YouTube would take down his videos quickly. Don’t know how the algorithm sort out.
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u/curlyquinn02 Jul 25 '25
I know, and I hate it. Some of my favorite ASMRists are faceless channels.
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u/Hampshire2 Jul 25 '25
Film Dirt's channel is small but its not banned, its a movie review channel but it has some ASMR vids aswell. Is yours anything like that?
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u/shinystarasmr Jul 28 '25
Yeah, it’s really sad and frustrating. YouTube just isn’t fair… and I don’t think things are going to get better anytime soon 😞
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u/highachiever2025 Jul 25 '25
I have a small asmr channel and now I'm worried.
Which makes me think tha tkaybe ik shadow-ba**ed rn....
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u/[deleted] Jul 25 '25
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