YouTube is fixing a bug that resulted in accounts being incorrectly removed and videos being deleted

Because a message highlighted above the thread warned YouTube users that there were “longer than normal wait times” for support requests, YouTube continually asked for “patience” and disabled comments.

“We deeply regret this error on our part,” YouTube said.

Thousands of users were unable to leave comments and pressed a button in the support thread to confirm that they had “the same question.” As of Friday morning, 8,000 users had signaled their desperation, and as of this writing the number had risen to nearly 11,000.

YouTube has not confirmed how many users were removed. Therefore, this is probably the best estimate we have of how many users were affected.

On Friday afternoon, YouTube updated the thread and confirmed that “all channels that were mistakenly removed for spam and deceptive practices have been fully restored!”

While YouTube claims that all channels are back online, YouTube says not all accidentally removed videos have been restored. Although most of the affected users were reportedly non-creators and therefore were unlikely to have had their livelihoods affected by the bug, at least one commenter complained, “My two most-watched videos have been deleted,” suggesting that some account holders have Videos you may greatly appreciate are still missing from your accounts.

“We are working on making the last few videos available again. Thank you for your understanding!” The YouTube update said. “We know this has been a frustrating experience. Thank you for your patience as we resolve this issue.”

It is unclear whether paying subscribers will receive compensation for lost access to content.

YouTube did not respond to Ars' request for comment.