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[McCheese]

Thought this was worth sharing given Stadia is out next week.

Markiplier did a live stream where he asked people to spam red or green emotes to decide what he would do in the game. Google's automated moderation did not like this, and permanently banned hundreds of google accounts, so they can't get their e-mails, can't sync their android photo's, and lost any subscriptions they had etc.

Some of them have gone through the process of trying of getting their bans reviewed, as it's clearly stupid, but the (presumed) humans who reviewed them have upheld the bans, this was two days ago. Today, google are still saying there is nothing they can do.

Can you imagine losing every single thing you "own" (sic) via your Google account because you posted an emoji in a live chat?



This is shockingly fucked up, and not the usual YouTuber clickbait drama.

 

[synchronicity]

Ridiculous.

 

[Kadayi]

Wat.GIF

So basically Google locked out then from their accounts for making emotes in a live steam chat?

Has this been verified?

 

[Doczu]

Wait, what? This is insane. I understand that this triggered an automated banning bot - stupid reason to ban, but i can get why it happened.
But upholding the bans? This is beyond ridiculous. I'm sure this will all be reversed, cause this will stir some PR shit, but Google support should have started unbanning the peeps from start.

 

[xrnzaaas]

This is a good reminder that you shouldn't have a gmail account tied to your bank account, subscriptions, private stuff etc.

 

[McCheese]

Has this been verified?

His moderation team have confirmed it, the video shows people in the chat, then shows them being banned, and even has the redacted appeal denied e-mails they received back.

 

[Psykodad]

Good PR for Stadia.

 

[Kadayi]

His moderation team have confirmed it, the video shows people in the chat, then shows them being banned, and even has the redacted appeal denied e-mails they received back.

Google done fucked up if that's the case. PR shitshow incoming.

 

[nkarafo]

Can't wait getting banned from "my" Stadia library for some stupid reason.

 

[TylersProphecy4.0]

Google can do whatever they want. To say they cant is complete bullshit. Holy fuck, they need to fix that kind of moderation quick though.
I ASSUME some stadia user out there is gonna use an emoji SOMEDAY and WHEN THEY DO...yeah, google needs to fix this lol.

 

[McCheese]

Good PR for Stadia.

Exactly right? If they don't axe the service, they might axe you because their unaccountable moderation AI didn't like how you acted in a game, or how you responded to a message etc. Scary shit.

 

[SaturnSaturn]

Cant wait for Voost to explain how this is a good thing

 

[username12]

I watch YouTube on a Yahoo account I don't care about. Watching it on an account you care if something happens to it is just asking for trouble. Google's ban policy is clear. They don't care if you want to talk to a human. Their final decision is irreversible and for life.

 

[Fbh]

Great news for Stadia, people can look forward to loosing access to "their" library of games because a Yotube bot didn't like their usage of emojis.

I watch YouTube on a Yahoo account I don't care about. Watching it on an account you care if something happens to it is just asking for trouble. Google's ban policy is clear. They don't care if you want to talk to a human. Their final decision is irreversible and for life.

What a great service when using it with an account you value is "asking for trouble"

 

[Spukc]

i need to back up my gmail NOW. fuck

 

[Birdo]

Imagine having loads of Google Store games, then poof! Goodbye.

 

[buizel]

thats what you get for being a markiplier fan LOLOWNED..

not really, sucks. thats so crazy theyre just 'oops nothing we can do THE ROBOTS DID IT'

 

[Darak]

I'm highly concerned about company-wide account bans which can affect multiple services. Losing access to your e-mail or your phone because you said something inappropriate in an unrelated social network is completely ridiculous. It's even worse in today's world, when there are so many automated systems and highly political moderation. It's just a matter of time until Google and others start suspending accounts because some moderator somewhere disagree with their political views, or just as a result of automated systems being manipulated by organized reporting campaigns.

I never liked services such as Steam doubling up as forums, messaging platforms and social networks because I'm worried about the thin line between the world-facing account everybody sees and can speak to, and the consumer account where I may have 15 years of investment and hundreds of digital products I've paid for and I pretend to own. In my opinion, companies should clearly separate communication bans from wide account bans. Valve does that, to an extent, but it is never 100% clear cut. Companies like to protect themselves, so conduct codes and user agreements are always extremely vague and expansive.

And by the way, I don't think permanent bans should exist, in any case. In most countries they will let you go after a time when you rob a bank, but the punishment for speaking too loud in a chat is permanent. There are obvious, good reasons why permanent punishments are not the way forward: people can change and amend their ways, the system can never be perfect so innocents are sometimes punished, etc.

 

[Bathtub Fart]

Google obviously gets advice from China before making decisions.

 

[prinz_valium]

google accounts, so they can't get their e-mails, can't sync their android photo's, and lost any subscriptions they had etc.

If you use Google for any of that, it's your own fault.

 

[Fuz]

Who's this guy and why does he have 24 million followers?

 

[TyphoonStruggle]

Good PR for Stadia.

I never buy anything from Google.

I once bought a song from Google Play that’s supposed to be explicit (E) but when I downloaded it it was scrubbed. I contacted Support and Support was dumb as rocks who wouldn’t give me a refund for their own false product.

I’ll never buy anything from Google again. They don’t care about their customers at all.

 

[The_Mike]

Shit I legit fear for my Gmail now. Have been using it for over ten years, and suddenly Google becomes a Chinese company over night.

 

[llien]

Any kind soul to save us time and explain, what was the controversy was about to begin with?

 

[CuNi]

Any kind soul to save us time and explain, what was the controversy was about to begin with?

Did you even try to read any sentence in the first post or did you just skip to the bottom, hoping to find TL;DR?
Jesus christ man.

 

[llien]

Did you even try to read any sentence in the first post

I read entire OP.
I didn't watch the video.
I need to hear possible reasons for humans upholding an apparently fraudulent decision.

 

[levyjl1988]

The only way to get a companies attention is through a lawsuit. They’ll hear you more than any other protest will.

 

[Newly Vacant]

If you use Google for any of that, it's your own fault.

That's an insane thing to say. Why would a Youtube chat, or anything done on Youtube, affect your other Google services? Why would anyone assume this was a likely outcome?

 

[moniker]

Doesn't look like they're upholding the bans:

 

[Codes 208]

I read entire OP.
I didn't watch the video.
I need to hear possible reasons for humans upholding an apparently fraudulent decision.

He makes a point that appeals for bans are done in-person and one particular subscriber got his ban uplifted for thirty minutes only to be re-banned because another member of youtube decided “nah, he did something wrong keep him banned.”

 

[BadBurger]

Doesn't look like they're upholding the bans:

The dangers of relying too much on automation. I am glad those peoples' accounts have been reinstated.

I am with others here: the access to ones Gmail account or Google Drive should have no relationship with their activity on Google's social media platform.

 

[Codes 208]

The dangers of relying too much on automation. I am glad those peoples' accounts have been reinstated.

I am with others here: the access to ones Gmail account or Google Drive should have no relationship with their activity on Google's social media platform.

it shouldnt, but it does. Google is a lot more like apple than people think.

 

[LegendOfKage]

Excerpt from the training manual:

User has been found spamming emotes. The correct response is to:

a) ban their account from using emotes.
b) ban their account from using chat for one week.
c) ban their account from you tube for one month.
d) ban their account from using any google service ever again, including their phone and email account as they possibly lose 1000s of photos, hundreds of hours of video, their entire you tube channel, all the subscribers that they spent years building up (which is directly tied to their income), all while they await a reply e-mail from the college they applied for, that will now never be delivered, irreversibly altering the course of their life. Then wait for them to appeal, and respond with "there's nothing we can do. thanks for understanding."

I'm glad to see that they're reversing the decision, but it's crazy that this happened in the first place. It's a good indication how powerful this company is, and how it needs to be prevented from ever doing something like this again. No tech company should have the power to ban you from your e-mail, phone service, photo library, or anything else that doesn't even affect the experience of other users.

 

[StreetsofBeige]

I don't get it. Why is Google going ape shit over this?

Markiplier did a live stream where he asked people to spam red or green emotes to decide what he would do in the game. Google's automated moderation did not like this, and permanently banned hundreds of google accounts, so they can't get their e-mails, can't sync their android photo's, and lost any subscriptions they had etc.

 

[BadBurger]

Just another quick thought: if Google doesn't want people to spam emotes, then they can go ahead and write and test that code in a day to prevent it from being a possibility in the first place.

 

[NahaNago]

This is disturbing to hear.

 

[CuNi]

I read entire OP.
I didn't watch the video.
I need to hear possible reasons for humans upholding an apparently fraudulent decision.

But that's the whole issue here. People's accounts are banned and YT-Mods are refusing to lift the ban without any reason except saying that the account broke YT-Community-TOS Guidelines.
That's why the shitstorm is coming down on them.

I just read that more and more bans are getting lifted as this problem hit media attention and YT is being put under pressure, but the issue still remains that this way of actions has shattered the trust people can have in such services.
Some Channels already were wiped by the system and thus even after unbanning, have lost all their Videos/History/etc.

 

[Weiji]

If you use google services you deserve this.

 

[El Sabroso]

now imagine doing what usually is done in twitch chats there, wouldn't survive

 

[Bitmap Frogs]

Just another quick thought: if Google doesn't want people to spam emotes, then they can go ahead and write and test that code in a day to prevent it from being a possibility in the first place.

Please don't attempt to inject common sense into Google.

They don't like it.

 

[Wwg1wga]

 

[Pallas]

That’s fucked and with that said, summoning V Voost Kain so he can explain this fuckery.

 

[EDMIX]

Good PR for Stadia.

I'm saying, could you imagine being banned from playing a single player game?

 

[Larogue]

You mean I would lose all my YouTube subscriptions/playlists, Google map locations, google photos, play store downloads, mobile contacts and my gmail work account, by posting an emoji...?

The fuck is that

 

[LOLCats]

i need to back up my gmail NOW. fuck

I try to do it yearly, just installed Office 2003 and backed up my mail Via outlook.

thats right, outlook 2003!

 

[Larogue]

Better migrate to multiple services.

One google account to rule them all, gonna bite back someday.

 

[Skyfox]

Google need to sort their shit out

 

[Chastten]

I remember like 16 or 17 years ago or something when everyone was just begging to get a gmail invite from a friends to replace their 10mb hotmail accounts with a 1000mb gmail account. That sure was the future.

 

[Fbh]

I'm saying, could you imagine being banned from playing a single player game?

Not just being banned from playing a single player game, but being banned from playing all your single player games because of some emojis you posted on a livestream chat.

Doesn't look like they're upholding the bans:

Good.
But these people were rather lucky this all happened in relation to a big youtuber with a massive following.
Good luck getting Google to give a shit if this happens to the smaller audience of a small channel.

I remember like 16 or 17 years ago or something when everyone was just begging to get a gmail invite from a friends to replace their 10mb hotmail accounts with a 1000mb gmail account. That sure was the future.

Damn, I had completely forgotten there was a time you needed an invite lol

 

[urmie]

This is what happens when you outsource your support teams who don't understand anything besides the "guidelines". Imagine if you were subbed to Stadia and this happened to your account.