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Short answer
YouTube had three termination waves in 2025–2026, measured by spikes in search interest: July–August 2025, November–December 2025 and July–September 2026. Official data confirms a removal peak only for the first – 7,456,811 channels in Q3 2025. The 2026 wave peaked in August, mainly outside the US; Google had not published numbers for it as of October 9, 2026.
Key takeaways
- Search interest in “youtube channel terminated” rose from an annual mean of 10.2 in 2024 to 46.7 in January–September 2026 (Google Trends index, worldwide).
- Q3 2025 saw 7,456,811 channel removals, 92.7% of them for spam – the largest quarter of 2025 in Google’s Transparency Report.
- The November–December 2025 wave in appeal searches did not come with more removals: Q4 2025 fell to 3,414,772.
- The July–September 2026 wave reached an all-time high in August 2026, driven mainly by Europe and South Asia; official numbers were not yet published on October 9, 2026.
- In the late-July 2026 ASMR wave, a YouTube spokesperson cited links to content violating the nudity policy and said there was no policy change.
A YouTube ban wave is what creators call it when many channels disappear within days – and the forums fill with “am I next?” posts. YouTube does not announce waves and does not use the term. This timeline reconstructs them from three kinds of evidence, kept strictly apart: Google’s official removal numbers, measured search interest, and press reports. Updated October 9, 2026.
What is a YouTube ban wave?
A YouTube ban wave is a period in which an unusually large number of channels are terminated or demonetized within a short time, usually after a spam sweep or a change in enforcement. Because YouTube publishes removal numbers only per quarter, we identify waves by spikes in Google Trends search interest – people searching for “youtube channel terminated” or “youtube appeal” – and check them against the quarterly data.
Search interest is not a count of terminations. It measures how many people look for help, relative to all searches. A sweep of bot-run spam channels may barely show up in searches, while a wave that hits real creators shows up strongly.
When were the YouTube ban waves of 2025 and 2026?
Three waves stand out: July–August 2025, November–December 2025 and July–September 2026.
| Date | What happened | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Oct 4, 2024 | A system error had removed channels wrongly as spam; TeamYouTube said it was resolved and channels restored | Press (TechCrunch); confirmed in TeamYouTube FAQ |
| Jul 15, 2025 | YouTube renames its “repetitious content” monetization rule to “inauthentic content” | Official (Help Center) |
| Jul 20–26, 2025 | US weekly peak for “youtube appeal” (index 65) | Search data |
| Aug 2025 | Worldwide index for “youtube channel terminated” reaches 35, up from 12–13 in May–June | Search data |
| Q3 2025 | 7,456,811 channels removed, 92.7% for spam | Official (Transparency Report) |
| Nov 13, 2025 | TeamYouTube FAQ: most termination decisions upheld, no current bugs | Official (Help Community) |
| Nov 30–Dec 6, 2025 | Worldwide weekly peak for “youtube appeal” | Search data |
| Dec 2025 | Reports of appeals rejected within hours or minutes; CEO defends AI moderation; two large AI fake-trailer channels terminated | Press (SEJ, TIME, Deadline) |
| Dec 11, 2025 | TeamYouTube on X: over 12 million channels terminated this year, but channels are not creators | Official (X) |
| Jan 21–28, 2026 | CEO letter on “managing AI slop”; several large AI channels terminated for spam | Official (blog); press (The Verge) |
| May 2026 | US high for “youtube channel terminated” | Search data |
| Late May–early Jun 2026 | Spam Policy restructured into nine sub-categories, without announcement | Official (Help page, archived versions) |
| Late Jul 2026 | Established ASMR channels terminated without prior strikes | Press (404 Media, Dexerto, Tubefilter) |
| Aug–Sep 2026 | All-time high worldwide for “youtube channel terminated” (66 in August, 61 in September); no peak in the US | Search data |
| Sep 29–30, 2026 | Help Center adds the limit of two appeals within one year and automated replies | Official (Help Center) |
What caused the July–August 2025 ban wave?
The first wave is the only one with a matching peak in the official data: 7,456,811 channels removed in Q3 2025, 92.7% of them for spam. Search interest stepped up at the same time – worldwide, searches for “youtube channel banned” reached their maximum, and in the US the week of July 20–26, 2025 brought the peak for “youtube appeal”. The timing coincides with YouTube’s July 15, 2025 rename of its monetization rule to “inauthentic content”. That link is our interpretation; YouTube never connected the two.
What happened in the November–December 2025 wave?
The second wave was a wave of appeals and anger rather than of removals: Q4 2025 removals fell to 3,414,772. Searches for “youtube appeal” peaked worldwide in the week of November 30 to December 6, 2025, and “youtube account disabled” peaked in December. The press reported AI-driven terminations and appeals rejected within minutes; TeamYouTube responded on November 13 that the vast majority of decisions had been upheld and that there were no current bugs. In December, YouTube also terminated two large AI fake-trailer channels, according to Deadline – a preview of the AI-content crackdown that followed in January 2026 (AI slop crackdown).
What is behind the 2026 YouTube purge?
The 2026 wave is the largest in search interest so far and the least documented in official data. Worldwide, the index for “youtube channel terminated” hit 66 in August and 61 in September 2026 – the highest values since our series begins in 2019. It was driven mainly by Europe and South Asia: the UK became measurable for the first time, while the US showed no peak. Two developments fall into this period:
- Sharper rules. The Spam Policy was restructured in late May/early June 2026 and now names automated or synthetic mass production, scraped content and coordinated channel networks; the monetization policies followed between July 9 and 14, 2026. Details: policy changelog.
- The ASMR wave. At the end of July 2026, several established ASMR channels were terminated without prior strikes. A YouTube spokesperson cited links to content violating the nudity and sexual content policy and said there was no policy change; the termination emails reportedly cited severe or repeated violations of that policy. See ASMR channels and terminations and the external links policy.
Do ban waves show up in YouTube’s official numbers?
Only sometimes. Wave 1 matches the largest quarter of 2025; wave 2 does not; wave 3 cannot be checked yet because Google had not published Q3 2026 by October 9, 2026. The likely reason, in our assessment: search interest measures real people looking for help, while most removals are spam channels whose operators do not search for appeal advice. A wave that hits fewer channels – but more real creators – can feel bigger than a quarter with millions of removals. All quarterly numbers are in the termination tracker.
Search interest comes from Google Trends (web search, worldwide and US), measured on October 9, 2026. Values are relative indices from 0 to 100 within each query group, so they show changes over time, not search volumes. Annual figures are means of monthly values. Removal numbers come from Google’s Transparency Report without adjustment. Press reports are marked as such and are not used as counts. We do not name individual creators or channels.
How to use this data
- Separate the three evidence typesOfficial numbers, search interest and press reports answer different questions. Do not mix them in one sentence.
- Never present search interest as terminationsSay “searches for … reached an all-time high”, not “terminations reached an all-time high”.
- Date every claimWaves fade within weeks; “as of October 2026” keeps a statement accurate.
- Check the policy timelineRule changes explain more than rumors – see the policy changelog.
- If you were affected, act individuallyA wave is not an argument in an appeal. Start with the appeal guide.
Cite this data: ChannelTerminated, YouTube Termination Waves 2025–2026, updated October 9, 2026, CC BY 4.0. https://channelterminated.com/data/termination-waves/ – we review this timeline monthly and when Google publishes a new quarter.
For the full explanation of why waves happen, read why so many YouTube channels are being terminated.
Frequently asked questions
Is there a YouTube ban wave right now?
As of October 9, 2026, the latest wave appears to be fading. Search interest in “youtube channel terminated” hit an all-time high worldwide in August and September 2026 and was falling back toward earlier levels in the last weeks of September. Google’s official removal numbers for July to September 2026 had not been published yet, so the size of that wave cannot be measured.
What caused the YouTube ban wave in July 2025?
YouTube never announced a wave, so the cause is not officially known. What is documented: on July 15, 2025, YouTube renamed its “repetitious content” monetization rule to “inauthentic content”, searches spiked in the week of July 20–26, 2025 in the US, and Q3 2025 brought 7,456,811 channel removals, 92.7% of them for spam. Linking these events is our interpretation, not an official statement.
Were YouTube channels terminated in July 2026?
Yes. At the end of July 2026, several established ASMR channels were terminated without prior strikes, according to 404 Media, Dexerto and Tubefilter. A YouTube spokesperson said the channels were terminated for linking to content that violates the nudity and sexual content policy, with no policy change. Creators on Reddit described a termination wave around July 31, 2026.
Is YouTube’s AI causing the ban waves?
Partly, most likely, but YouTube has not said so for any specific wave. YouTube says it uses a mix of automation and human reviewers and detects related channels automatically; its CEO told TIME in December 2025 that AI moderation makes enforcement better and more precise. Press reports describe appeals rejected within minutes. A direct causal link for each wave is not documented.
What is the “YouTube purge”?
“Purge” is an informal term creators use for a wave of terminations or demonetizations in a niche, such as AI-generated channels in January 2026 or ASMR channels in July 2026. It is not an official YouTube term or program. Each termination is still an individual decision under a named policy and can be appealed within up to one year.
Does a ban wave mean my appeal will fail?
No. Each appeal is reviewed individually, and channels caught in sweeps are sometimes reinstated – in October 2024, channels wrongly removed by a system error were restored. Being part of a wave is not an argument by itself, though. Your appeal needs to show why the policy named in your email does not fit your channel.
- Google Transparency Report – YouTube Community Guidelines enforcement (data retrieved October 9, 2026)
- TeamYouTube FAQ on channel terminations, YouTube Help Community (November 13, 2025)
- YouTube Help 1311392 – YouTube channel monetization policies
- YouTube Help 2801973 – Spam Policy
- YouTube Help 2802168 – Channel or account terminations
- ChannelTerminated analysis of Google Trends data (worldwide and US, 2019–2026), measured October 9, 2026
- TechCrunch, October 4, 2024 (spam removal error)
- Dexerto, December 1 and December 11, 2025; TIME, December 8, 2025; Search Engine Journal, December 9, 2025; Deadline, December 18, 2025
- YouTube Official Blog, CEO letter, January 21, 2026; The Verge, January 28, 2026; Dexerto, February 27, 2026
- 404 Media, Dexerto (August 3, 2026) and Tubefilter (August 4, 2026) on ASMR channel terminations