A French YouTuber and streamer, known online as J0nathan, has reported that his channel was permanently banned by YouTube due to a gameplay video of Clive Barker's Hellraiser: Revival. J0nathan stated that even after censoring explicit scenes, including nudity and BDSM elements in the game's opening sequences with black boxes, his channel was removed for violating YouTube's sex and nudity policy.
YouTube's response to J0nathan's appeal indicated that content "meant to be sexually gratifying isn’t allowed on YouTube." The game's opening scene, which features a topless woman and explicit sexual activity followed by nudity, is described as crucial to understanding the game's narrative and plot progression.
J0nathan pointed out that uncensored gameplay footage of the same scene remains accessible on other YouTube channels. He had initially assumed that censoring the explicit content would be sufficient, and had applied a "Not Made for Kids" label to the video. However, he did not implement an age restriction, believing that YouTube would typically apply one if necessary, as they have done with other content.
At the time of the ban, J0nathan had amassed 190,000 subscribers. He described the ban as permanent and expressed devastation over the loss of his channel, which represented 10 years of work and his primary source of income. He had no prior warnings or strikes from the platform. His appeals were reportedly rejected quickly, with automated responses indicating that the decision was upheld, leading him to believe that human reviewers were not involved.
J0nathan is now hesitant to use his secondary channel due to YouTube's policy prohibiting banned users from operating additional channels, which could result in the loss of both. He conveyed the significant emotional impact of losing over 3,000 videos, which he considers a substantial part of his life.
He has attempted to seek help from contacts and fellow content creators without success. Attempts to engage the game's developers, Saber Interactive, have also been met with silence. Saber had previously issued guidance to content creators before Hellraiser's release, advising them to use "appropriate age restrictions, sexual theme labels, and other necessary platform tools" and noting that "context and intent behind your content will matter" as there is no specific "streamer mode."