YouTube Just Demonetized My Channel...

Overview

The creator planned a YouTube comeback in 2026 after growing their channel to about 70,000 subscribers. Their goal was to post 1–2 videos per month, while also exploring side projects and turning ideas into revenue.

They also noted growing uncertainty in software engineering jobs due to AI, which contributed to forming a limited company to host new products. As part of this shift, they began migrating their monetization setup—specifically their YouTube AdSense income, which was roughly £100–£200/month.

AdSense Migration to a Company Account

The creator described changing AdSense from a personal account to a business setup:

1. Create a new Google account owned by the company.
2. Link it through YouTube Studio.
3. Complete identity verification.

After verification, everything appeared to be working correctly. However, the next morning, YouTube disabled their partnership with the reason “invalid click activity.”

The “Invalid Click Activity” Disablement

The creator said they had never encountered issues before. They also pointed to analytics showing no obvious suspicious traffic patterns, estimating that normal holiday return traffic was around ~3,000 views/day.

Appeals to YouTube

They attempted to appeal twice using YouTube’s invalid traffic form, but both appeals were rejected.

They stated that YouTube does not provide specifics such as:

• where the invalid traffic came from,
• which videos were affected,
• or how to prevent it.

Their understanding is that if someone maliciously clicked ads, there’s little recourse available.

Effective “Life” Ban from YouTube Monetization

As a result, YouTube effectively bans them “for life” from monetizing YouTube channels. They estimated they would also lose the AdSense payment for December, about £162.

What Comes Next

The creator described a key decision point:

• Continue making videos without AdSense, relying on alternatives such as brand sponsorships and Patreon
• Or shift focus away from YouTube, prioritizing their blog, newsletter, and courses on a different platform that “respects creators”

They also emphasized the demotivating impact of losing even relatively small AdSense income—especially since YouTube may still run ads on their content while they can’t earn from it.

They further noted that YouTube’s focus on Shorts and the “AI slop” environment may make it harder for long-form creators to compete.

Closing Thoughts

They hope that broader audience attention might lead YouTube to review and possibly lift the ban, but they expect they’ll otherwise need to decide whether continued video production is still worth their time.

They encourage viewers to comment for advice and reiterate that they will continue writing their newsletter via email/RSS regardless.

Presenters / Contributors

• Freddy
• Ian
• Joe
• The video’s primary creator (unnamed in the subtitles)