YouTuber's Channel Permanently Banned Over Censored Hellraiser: Revival Gameplay Video

A YouTuber and streamer's channel was permanently banned for a Clive Barker’s Hellraiser: Revival gameplay video.

French content creator J0nathan said that despite covering up the nudity in the game’s opening scenes with black boxes, his channel was removed for violating YouTube’s sex and nudity policy. “Explicit content that’s meant to be sexually gratifying isn’t allowed on YouTube,” the company told the streamer in response to an appeal upholding the ban.

Hellraiser: Revival, from Space Marine 2 developer Saber Interactive, opens with a raunchy sex scene featuring a topless woman and some BDSM play. Following that, the male character runs around for a while with their wang in the wind. While the scene is explicit, it’s essential to understanding the story and acts as the catalyst for everything that follows.

J0nathan claimed that this is the scene that got his channel banned, despite the fact uncensored gameplay of the same scene remains live on other YouTube channels. While he did add the "Not Made for Kids" label to the video, he did not age gate it, assuming that censoring the explicit scenes would be enough to satisfy YouTube.

"Since the rest of the game was just a standard horror title like Resident Evil I figured it didn't really require an age restriction, and that if anything, YouTube would just apply one later on like they always do," he said.

J0nathan had 190,000 subscribers on his channel at the time of the ban, which he told IGN was "permanent."

"My channel has been completely deleted, wiping out 10 years of hard work and destroying my main source of income," he continued. "I've never had any issues with the platform before. No warnings, no strikes, nothing. And yet they just threw me away like I was nothing.”

J0nathan said he has made attempts to run through YouTube’s appeal process, but “everything seems to be handled by AI.” His first appeal was rejected within a few minutes, and support accounts on social media responded with a generic message: "We've reviewed your case and are upholding our decision.”

“How can they possibly uphold such a decision when other videos showing the exact same scene without any censorship are still available on the platform?” he commented. “It really doesn't feel like any human being is actually reviewing these cases.”

J0nathan has a side channel but is afraid of using it because YouTube prohibits banned users from operating other channels. If he attempted it, he would run the risk of losing both channels. “I'm absolutely devastated,” he told IGN. “Beyond losing my income, I'm also losing 10 years of hard work and over 3,000 videos. The emotional impact is huge. Those videos represent a big part of my life, and losing them hurts more than I can describe.

“I've tried everything. I've reached out to my contacts, asked fellow content creators for help, but none of them have managed to get in touch with anyone at YouTube who could actually review my case. The same goes for the game developers. I've sent them emails and tagged them on X, hoping they might step in and help. I'm convinced they have contacts at YouTube to help prevent unfair bans related to their game, and yet they've completely ignored me.”

Ahead of Hellraiser's release, Saber tweeted to offer guidance to content creators concerned that their videos of the game would be at best demonetized, at worst get their channel deleted. Saber recommended content creators label all streams and videos with "appropriate age restrictions, sexual theme labels, and other necessary platform tools."

"You will need to adhere to each platform's community guidelines," Saber continued. There is no 'streamer mode,' Saber also pointed out on social media ahead of launch, "so context and intent behind your content will matter."

IGN has asked Saber Interactive for comment.