20 Banned YouTube Creators

Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’re looking at online personalities who have been ousted from YouTube. In particular, these are creators whose accounts have been deleted or removed by the video platform.

Super JoJo - Nursery Rhymes & Kids Songs

This Chinese YouTube channel was accused of copying content ideas from the famous kids’ channel Cocomelon. The latter claimed that Super JoJo not only stole their concepts, but also their characters and settings, and sued its creator, BabyBus, for copyright infringement. In August 2021, the Super JoJo - Nursery Rhymes & Kids Songs channel was terminated for the first time. Although it was eventually restored in October that year, all of the channel’s content was made private after BabyBus was found guilty of copyright infringement. In 2024, all Super JoJo channels were once again terminated for ripping off Cocomelon.

PLAYMATETESSI

You might recognize her as the teen who appeared on “Dr. Phil” claiming she was, quote, ‘born famous’ and that her father was a ‘jealous hater’. On social media, PLAYMATETESSI a.k.a Mya West is known for the drama that went down on Twitch when she mocked a viewer who had cancer and allegedly abused her pet cat. Well, she was also a YouTube creator whose channel was terminated for violating community guidelines. According to Wikitubia, she was banned for content that was perceived to be harassment or threatening in nature. Her channel had a modest following, but she claimed she had seven billion subscribers on the platform, then admitted it was a lie.

RaulZito

The popular Brazilian creator, whose real name is Raulino de Oliveira Maciel, rose to great fame by streaming “Fortnite” on Twitch. He also created content featuring young talents. In July 2021, Maciel was arrested in Florianópolis, Santa Catarina, on charges of indecent assault of minors. According to reports, he allegedly lured his victims, who were mainly child actors, under the pretense of offering them work opportunities. Following his arrest, he was banned from Twitch. Maciel’s YouTube channel, where he reportedly had around one hundred forty-three thousand subscribers, was also terminated.

Khá Bảnh

This Vietnamese influencer gained popularity by uploading funny videos on Facebook before moving to YouTube. There, he built a massive fanbase with over two million subscribers. His online persona as a reckless but righteous gangster was a big hit with young viewers, but was also denounced by many for being disruptive. One particular promotional video shared in 2019, where the YouTuber can be seen burning down a scooter with his friends, was especially controversial. That same year, he reportedly went to jail for illegal gambling, and his YouTube channel was promptly terminated.

Patriots’ Soapbox

In 2020, YouTube announced a widespread purge of extremist conspiracy theory channels such as those promoting QAnon and Pizzagate, which maliciously targeted individuals or groups. Patriots’ Soapbox, a prominent QAnon outlet, was one of the many channels to be terminated under this new policy. The account was said to be spreading QAnon ideas that falsely posited Donald Trump as the only beacon of hope against a cabal of Satanist elites exploiting children. It hosted regular discussions of cryptic Q drops in 24/7 streams, often welcoming Republican politicians as guests. Despite being banned on YouTube, PSB’s online influence has not disappeared.

ImJayStation

Jason Matthew Ethier found YouTube fame through polarizing pranks and vlogs on his channel JayStation where he apparently snuck into properties. Even though some of these instances were supposedly staged, the videos got him arrested and his channel was demonetized. However, Jason came back on YouTube with another channel, ImJayStation, where he sought out paranormal activity in “3 AM Challenge” videos and claimed to communicate with the spirits of late celebrities. As if that wasn’t problematic enough, he also faked his then-girlfriend Alexia Marano’s death to pretend to bring her back. Marano later accused Ethier of assaulting her. Eventually, the channel ImJayStation was terminated for violating YouTube’s terms of service.

Sneako

This YouTuber went from gaming videos and street interviews to promoting the manosphere. Nicolas Kenn De Balinthazy, or Sneako, has been criticized for making right-wing content seemingly promoting racism, sexism, homophobia, and antisemitism. His controversial beliefs led to his YouTube account being banned twice – once in 2022, then again in 2024, after which it was terminated entirely. He attempted to return with a second channel, Shneako, but that too was terminated. Nevertheless, Nicolas remains relevant on social media, where he seemingly idolizes Andrew Tate and holds contentious figures like Kanye West and Nick Fuentes in high regard. FYI, Tate is being investigated for charges as serious as trafficking and sexual assault. So, Sneako’s apparent association with him is definitely not a good look.

Mellstroy

The Belarusian creator started his YouTube journey playing “Minecraft”. However, his claim to fame was trash streaming. His live broadcasts would reportedly consist of objectifying women, substance use, and promoting online gambling. During one of these streams, he allegedly assaulted a young model named Elena Efremova, for which he faced criminal charges, but escaped prison time. Surprisingly, it was for a casino advertisement on his channel that Russia’s Safe Internet League called for his account to be banned. YouTube listened, and Mellstroy’s channel was terminated in 2021, although per Wikitubia, the platform cited sexual content as the reason for the ban.

Soph

Even before stepping into her teens, this creator made offensive political commentary her brand on YouTube. Soph, also known as Lieutenant Corbis, gained traction among the alt-right for her racist, misogynistic, homophobic, and Islamophobic rants. In one of her 2019 videos, she reportedly urged viewers to mention her in their manifestos. This was supposedly a reference to the tragic 2019 mass shootings, whose perpetrators shared their manifestos on 8chan. Soon after, Soph's channel was terminated for hate speech, and she reacted by threatening to attack the YouTube HQ, later clarifying that it was a joke. Her attempt at a comeback with a new channel named Corbis in 2022 was also shut down, as that account got terminated, too.

LeafyIsHere

Calvin Lee Vail’s YouTube career started like many other creators. He originally posted Let’s Plays on the platform, but gained prominence as a drama channel. His reaction videos blew up, but as his audience grew, so did his audacity. Leafy’s content started crossing over from commentary to alleged cyberbullying territory. In particular, scathing comments he made about Twitch celeb Pokimane were seen as harassment, which ultimately got his channel terminated in 2020. However, Calvin refused to acknowledge his toxic behavior. Several other channels he created on YouTube, such as LeafyIsntHere, Weafy, and LeafyCast, were also terminated.

Varg Vikernes

He was one of the most infamous musicians associated with Norway’s Black Metal scene when he went under the moniker of Count Grishnackh. His name is Varg Vikernes: convicted murderer, white supremacist and former YouTuber. Vikernes’s channel, Thulean Perspective, was removed from YouTube in June of 2019 after the platform aggressively ramped up their crackdown on content that, in their words, “alleg[es] that a group is superior in order to justify discrimination, segregation or exclusion.” Thulean Perspective had a quarter million subscribers at the time, while Vikernes himself continued to publish on Twitter and a personal blog.

Owen Benjamin

Our next personality hasn’t just been banned from YouTube, but also Instagram, Twitter and Facebook. Owen Benjamin is a comedian by trade, and actually started out acting in movies like “The House Bunny.” But eventually his outspoken political views got his social media accounts in a heap of trouble. Benjamin’s stand-up was largely directed towards a conservative base, but eventually his commentary leaned into anti-Semitic and transphobic content. This got Benjamin’s YouTube channel removed in December of 2019, although the comedian would claim that he took the ban as a “badge of honor.”

LifeSiteNews

The COVID-19 pandemic saw a number of YouTube accounts removed from the platform due to the dangerous spreading of misinformation on various channels. LifeSiteNews was one example of this, although this far-right Catholic conservative group was already controversial prior to the ban. LifeSiteNews’s presence on YouTube was removed in February of 2021 after the channel repeatedly espoused anti-vaccine content, as well as denials of COVID’s severity and danger to the public. The pro-life group was also temporarily suspended from Twitter and permanently banned from Facebook in May 2021. Four years later, the group’s founder, John-Henry Westen, was both removed and restored from the position of CEO and Editor-in-Chief of the online news corporation in the same month.

Uriminzokkiri

It isn’t all that often that a state-run news site sees permanent removal from a public platform such as YouTube, but Uriminzokkiri isn’t an average news site. Indeed, this North Korean site often takes material gleaned from the official Korean Central News Agency and syndicates it to its own audience. The site was already banned in South Korea, but 2010 saw Uriminzokkiri increase its social media presence in an attempt to change the perception of North Korean culture around the world. YouTube decided to terminate its channel in 2017 due to legal issues.

Dan Bongino

The résumé of Dan Bongino, on the surface, is certainly impressive, as the New York City native spent nearly five years with the NYPD, and even worked as a Secret Service agent for over a decade. Bongino also enjoyed a successful career as a conservative personality and multimedia host, working for outlets such as Fox News. One of Bongino’s YouTube channels was temporarily suspended after uploading videos that repeatedly cast doubt on mask effectiveness during the pandemic. Then, in January of 2022, Bongino was permanently banned from the platform after he used a second channel to espouse the same views.

Stefan Molyneux

He’s one of the most controversial, polarizing and visible figureheads of the alt-right political movement, and he’s been banned from a LOT of social media platforms. Stefan Molyneux’s content tends to discuss various conspiracy theories, and his Freedomain website has been linked to the proliferation of racist, sexist and Islamophobic views in the past. Molyneux and Freedomain have even been labeled as a cult by some, including noted mental health counselor Steven Hassan. YouTube permanently banned Molyneux from their platform in January 2020, joining the laundry list of other organizations deciding to do the same, including SoundCloud, PayPal and even Mailchimp.

Fantastic Adventures

It isn’t only political views that can get a YouTube channel permanently banned. The personal channel FamilyOFive was removed multiple times from YouTube on account of its content violating the platform’s policies on child endangerment. The Fantastic Adventures channel had an even more serious scandal on its hands when it was revealed that creator Machelle Hobson had been mistreating her adopted children. The whistle was actually blown on Hobson by her biological daughter, who contacted police long after the Department of Child Safety had reportedly visited the home over a dozen times. Fantastic Adventures was terminated by YouTube, while Hobson died in a hospital in November, 2019 after being found unfit to stand trial for her crimes.

Richard B. Spencer

Sometimes, a creator might attempt to distance themselves from accusations against their content in the hopes it might all go away and they’ll be allowed to continue. Richard Spencer, for his part, goes all-in with his hateful rhetoric and unrepentant racism, regardless of whether or not it gets him banned. Naturally, this DID occur with Spencer’s YouTube channel, right around the same time the platform eliminated the channels of Stefan Molyneux and one-time presidential candidate David Duke. Despite this, Spencer continued to speak, with lectures and personal appearances, but he also faced pushback and protest every step of the way.

Gavin McInnes

If you weren’t aware of Gavin McInnes when he co-founded Vice back in 1994, then the January 6th attack on the United States Capitol Building almost certainly brought the man’s past affiliations back into the public eye. This was due to an organization called the Proud Boys, a group also founded by McInnes, which has been labeled by its critics as neo-fascist, and even designated in Canada as a terrorist group. McInnes’s YouTube channel was initially banned in 2018 on account of copyright infringement, but was later reinstated, before a June 2020 ban for hate speech hit McInnes once again. The podcast host and writer was also banned from Amazon, PayPal, Twitter and Facebook.

Alex Jones

There’s arguably no brand that’s been as successful at commercializing (and mobilizing) the far-right political movement more than Alex Jones’s InfoWars. This is despite the near-constant criticism of Jones’s espousing debunked news and false conspiracy theories. YouTube seemed to recognize the danger of Jones’s message, but moved slowly at first, removing four of Jones’s InfoWars videos for “child endangerment and hate speech.” It wasn’t long after, however, that YouTube joined many other platforms in banning Jones’s profile entirely. Jones attempted to go around the ban by reuploading InfoWars content on a different channel, Resistance News, but this was also banned. Jones’s fact-checked appearance on “The Joe Rogan Experience,” however, was successfully uploaded to the site.

Which of these YouTubers shocked you the most? Tell us in the comments!