YouTube recently took down my tutorial video of GTA IV Complete Edition How To Downgrade + Install LCPDFR 1.1 (2021 Full-Length Tutorial) and it seems I am the only one experiencing this mess. My warning appeal was rejected within 3 minutes, so I doubt a real human read my appeal. This was a video that surpassed 21,555 views, 400 likes/comments, and a huge chunk of watch time hours. It stayed on YouTube for well over a year, and it is just surprising to see it vanish with no indication as to why. For YouTube to remove it with no warning, and to reject my warning appeal - concerns me a lot. There are thousands of creators like myself that upload these kinds of videos, and I am afraid YouTube will continue to hurt my channel among others over this alleged community guideline policy violation for bypassing purchases of a game/software/service, etc. My tutorial among others abides by the EULA and legal agreement terms and conditions regarding purchases and distribution. Has anyone else encountered this type of issue before? My tutorial uses Games for Windows Live, and Steam as verification processes, and for YouTube to disregard that, terrifies me to realize how much power they have over smaller creators. I read the legal notes and ToS and nothing that I have shown on YouTube was deserving of a video removal with no email or contact information to clarify the fine line between bypassing purchases to using a game/software/service that utilizes verification software such as GFWL and Steam. What are your thoughts on this? Do you think this is an overlook on YouTube's behalf or do you think YouTube will continue to target smaller creators such as myself regarding these tutorials containing game patches? I am afraid this will change the direction of my channel, as currently, I am almost halfway to 4,000 watch hours, and halfway to 1,000 subscribers for the eligibility of monetization on my channel.

With the help of TeamYouTube, I was able to have this resolved. As stated in my appeal, my content abides by the EULA requiring a purchased copy of the game when activating your CD Key with GFWL and the automation or manual review picked up on showing people how to get access to a portion of game files for free. This would have flagged my content as 'harmful/dangerous' [inappropriate content], however, my content didn't meet the criteria for YouTube to have the authority to fully remove my video from the platform. If anyone else deals with something like this, I highly recommend reaching out to TeamYouTube and asking them to manually review your content.