I had a YouTube account for several years which I used only to watch videos and make comments. I NEVER uploaded a video, yet one day when I went to log on, my account had been suspended.
I had received no explanation nor warning. I thought it was some kind of mistake or review, and that the suspension would be temporary, but a couple of days later the message was, "Your account has been permanently disabled."
I tried emailing them, faxing, and calling them. I never got any response except once when a receptionist answered the telephone but she could only refer me back to the website and Community Help Forums which is made up only of users, no one from YouTube.
Terms of Service provide for suspension of accounts for multiple infringements of copyright. Since I had never uploaded any video, this could not have been the reason. My comments were not hateful nor obscene. I am a professional and my comments were mostly quoting scientific and news articles. I did what I did as an educational service to the public. Not only was my account closed, but ALL my comments, a few years worth, were deleted.
In the Forums, I saw an extraordinary amount of people whose accounts had been closed. Perhaps some were for cause, but others claimed for no reason (although most had uploaded videos).
While your average website may be able to deny service on a whim, YouTube is now so large and ubiquitous that it is essentially a public utility, i.E. They must observe certain criteria and respect the common weal.
I would like others with similar experiences to contact me, especially a lawyer who might be willing to initiate a class action.
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