Hack recovery YouTube

YouTube channel hacked?
Here’s how to get it back.

YouTube’s official recovery steps in plain English, starting with the part most people miss: your Google Account has to come back before your channel can.

Watch for recovery scams. Never call a “support” number you found in a search, never pay someone who offers to get your channel back, and be wary of brand-deal emails that ask you to sign in with Google. Real help starts at Google’s account recovery page or YouTube’s Help Center.

Start Google account recovery Read YouTube’s guide

Locked out?
Try these in order.

On YouTube there’s no separate channel login. The channel belongs to a Google Account, so that account is what you recover.

  1. Recover your Google Account first

    Every channel sits behind at least one Google Account, and the channel only comes back after the account does. Open Google’s account recovery page and answer the questions as best you can, ideally from a device and place you normally use.

  2. Reset the password and lock the account down

    Pick a strong password you’ve never used on this account. Then review recent security events and signed-in devices, remove anything unfamiliar, and turn on 2-Step Verification with a passkey.

  3. Get every owner and manager to do the same

    If other people can manage the channel, each of them needs to secure their own Google Account too, or the hacker may still have a way back in.

  4. Appeal if the channel was terminated

    Hackers often break the rules on purpose to get a channel taken down. Once your account is recovered, YouTube emails you about the appeal. Appeals can be refused if the account recovery isn’t complete.

  5. Get help from YouTube

    Eligible creators, such as YouTube Partner Program members, can contact Creator Support or use the hacked channel assistant linked from YouTube’s guide. Everyone else can reach @TeamYouTube on X. YouTube only supports hacks from about the last 9 months.

Still logged in?
Lock it down now.

If something looks off but you can still get in, move fast. Hackers usually change the recovery email and phone next.

  • Change your Google Account password, and anywhere else you reused it.
  • Run Google’s Security Checkup and sign out every device you don’t recognize.
  • Turn on 2-Step Verification with a passkey, and add a recovery phone and email.
  • Open the cleanup tool in YouTube Studio and confirm which changes weren’t yours.
  • Delete uploads you didn’t make, remove unknown people from channel permissions, and restore your name, handle, picture and banner.
  • Check your dashboard for new strikes and ask YouTube to investigate any that came from the hacker.

Creators who posted about losing their channel.

Their own public videos, played with YouTube’s player. None of them are Sociable members or endorse us.

    Is one of these yours and you’d rather it weren’t here? Tap Is this you? to message us on Instagram and we’ll take it down within a day.

    YouTube takeovers that made headlines.

    From fake crypto livestreams to channels with tens of millions of subscribers, each one links to the original report.

    Independent news reports, not Sociable results. See takeovers on every platform or find recovery guides for other platforms.

    Never go through
    this alone again.

    • Connect through the platform you already use. Tap Connect and approve it inside Instagram. No passwords.
    • Alerts by text and in the app. The moment something looks wrong, you hear about it.
    • Recovery, or you get paid. If we can’t recover your account, you get paid up to $25,000.
    Join at $99 a year See how it works

    Founding price through December 31. Protection starts with Instagram on December 1, 2026, and YouTube follows January 1, 2027.