Locked out of 14 year old YouTube channel because tied to Hotmail.com email

#1

Post by Gengar » Tue, Jun 25, 2024, 8:30 AM UTC

I have a 14 year old YouTube channel that was linked to a Google account but it uses a Hotmail Address. I know the password but it keeps asking for 2FA phone number, I made the account years ago so obviously I don't have the number or even know what that number is! Without number it says open another device with that account, I don't have have one since its 14 years old!

I only lost access recently, I thought this YouTube was tied to actual my Gmail but it turns out I was only brand manager and I lost access when trying to merge them. Ironic this all happened because I actually wanted to give them money for YouTube Premium and now losing my channel of 14 years makes me not want to use the platform at all. Is my account lost forever since Google offer zero support?

Re: Locked out of 14 year old YouTube channel because tied to Hotmail.com email

#2

Post by blueappconfig » Tue, Jun 25, 2024, 8:42 AM UTC

hotmail accounts are still accessable by logging in using Outlook, in case you didn't know

Re: Locked out of 14 year old YouTube channel because tied to Hotmail.com email

#3

Post by amelius » Tue, Jun 25, 2024, 8:56 AM UTC

> and now losing my channel of 14 years makes me not want to use the platform at all.

That solves your problem then.

Re: Locked out of 14 year old YouTube channel because tied to Hotmail.com email

#4

Post by FrostKiwi » Tue, Jun 25, 2024, 8:58 AM UTC

> since Google offer zero support?

For non-partners, they effectively offer zero support. However, their support team on Twitter [1] is very active and helped me out in a pinch when I struck due to a fauly content bot on the (non-google) imgur.com influencing a YouTube content check and leading to community strike on YouTube[2], which support didn't want to do anything about.

[1] https://x.com/TeamYouTube [2] https://x.com/FrostKiwiOne/status/1704737522449035634

Re: Locked out of 14 year old YouTube channel because tied to Hotmail.com email

#5

Post by ClassyJacket » Tue, Jun 25, 2024, 8:59 AM UTC

Can you not unlock the hotmail account by providing ID to Microsoft??

Re: Locked out of 14 year old YouTube channel because tied to Hotmail.com email

#6

Post by TekMol » Tue, Jun 25, 2024, 9:00 AM UTC

    I made the account years ago so obviously
    I don't have the number or even know what
    that number is

Can you elaborate? How is that obvious?

Re: Locked out of 14 year old YouTube channel because tied to Hotmail.com email

#7

Post by poglet » Tue, Jun 25, 2024, 9:01 AM UTC

Sorry to hear about this issue, I hope you can get your account back.

If anyone has any old accounts with services that support MFA, enable MFA. You can get locked out with no way of getting back in.

Here is a similar issue where you could get locked out of Apple accounts if you didn't have MFA: https://www.reddit.com/r/applehelp/comments/bl7cis/how_to_fi...

Re: Locked out of 14 year old YouTube channel because tied to Hotmail.com email

#8

Post by demeanor » Tue, Jun 25, 2024, 9:02 AM UTC

2FA is the source of all evil

Re: Locked out of 14 year old YouTube channel because tied to Hotmail.com email

#9

Post by poglet » Tue, Jun 25, 2024, 9:04 AM UTC

TekMol wrote: post #6

I made the account years ago so obviously I don't have the number or even know what that number is Can you elaborate? How is that obvious?

Enforcing MFA or registering with phone numbers wasn't required on email accounts back in the day.

Re: Locked out of 14 year old YouTube channel because tied to Hotmail.com email

#10

Post by dusted » Tue, Jun 25, 2024, 9:09 AM UTC

I know the tinfoilhats won't like this, but it should be a human right to have some kind of guaranteed access to an email account, something where, if you lose access, you can show up at an authority and identify yourself to have access restored.

It's absolutely insane that we're at the mercy of the likes of google for what is de-facto a requirement for life. Paying for it at something like proton-mail does not change the fact that you've got pretty much no legal right to get your access restored in a timely fashion.

This is vital infrastructure, and it should be offered and run by the state. I'm fine with people opting not to use it, I'd be fine with people paying extra for it over tag. But damn I hate the current situation.