How to start recovering your hacked YouTube channel

If someone changed your channel details or posted videos you do not recognize, start by recovering the associated Google Account. Then review the channel cleanup options, uploads, and any access that still appears.

Recover the Google Account first

YouTube says a hacked channel means at least one associated Google Account has been compromised. If you can still sign in, change your password and secure the account. If you cannot sign in, follow Google’s official account recovery process. Ask the channel’s other owners or managers to secure their own accounts too.

Signs to review include changes you did not make to the channel image, description, email settings, or AdSense for YouTube association, and videos posted without your permission. One sign by itself does not confirm how someone got access.

Review the cleanup tool

After recovering Google, open YouTube Studio on a computer and check whether the channel cleanup tool appears. YouTube makes it available to channel owners and managers when it detects unusual activity. If you cannot access the tool or do not see the notice, you can review the channel manually.

If the notice appears:

1. Select Start review.
2. Review the listed changes and mark only the ones you made. If you do not recognize a change, do not mark it as yours.
3. Select Next and review YouTube’s proposed fix plan.
4. Check who has channel access. Change roles or remove access only after confirming which users are unauthorized.
5. Complete the listed steps and select Submit.

YouTube will email a link to track the request. Review the proposed changes before submitting: its help says you cannot undo changes marked as unauthorized from that review.

If the tool is missing, clean up the channel manually

For an upload you do not recognize, identify whether its notice mentions a Community Guidelines strike, a copyright strike, or a copyright claim. Keep the notice and the video’s details before taking action. YouTube’s cleanup guide says to delete an upload with none of those strikes or claims; if it has a copyright strike or claim, contact support to start an investigation before deleting it.

For a Community Guidelines strike, YouTube’s official help pages differ: the recovery FAQ says to immediately remove videos that violate those guidelines, while the cleanup guide says to contact support if an upload received a strike. They do not give one consistent rule for that case. If you have recovered Google and are eligible, ask Creator Support about the specific notice before deleting the video. Creator Support is not available to every creator; if you cannot access it, keep the evidence and do not delete the upload until YouTube clarifies which instruction applies.

Then check the channel’s users, roles, and any invitations shown in its permissions. For a channel linked to a Brand Account, review that access list too. For routine access removal steps, see how to manage YouTube channel permissions.

Also check the channel name, handle, profile picture, and banner; video privacy settings; recent comments; playlists; thumbnails; subscribed channels; and, if you use them, AdSense or Content Manager settings. Restore channel details that were changed without your permission.

If the channel was terminated

If YouTube terminated the channel after the hack, recover the Google Account first. Then check YouTube’s email about the appeal and follow its linked form. YouTube warns that it may not accept an appeal if Google Account recovery is incomplete. If your channel is eligible for Creator Support, that may be another route after you recover Google. YouTube limits support for potential hacking incidents to those within the past nine months; that limit is not an appeal deadline.

Check what access remains

Review the people, roles, and invitations shown in the interface again, and confirm that you recognize each one. Securing the Google Account and completing cleanup can reduce risk, but does not by itself prove that the hacker was removed. YouTube says it cannot always confirm this.

If the tool is missing or your channel controls look different, stop before making changes you cannot identify and return to YouTube’s official help for recovering a hacked channel and cleaning it up.