YouTube working on new tool to recover hacked account

YouTube is currently testing a new tool that helps content creators to regain access to their channel once it has been hacked.

Not being able to access your YouTube account: that means that your account is most likely hacked. That brings all kinds of troubles, one of them not being able to upload new videos. What if the attacker decides to delete all of your videos and replace them with placeholder content, like videos about cryptocurrency scams? Or other harmful content?

Losing control over your own YouTube channel is every content maker’s worst nightmare. It could deal a blow to their online reputation, but also hinders them from uploading new videos and monetizing them. The attacker could also decide to divert the cash flow to his account. However you look at it, you’re screwed.

In March 2023, it happened to Linus Tech Tips, a popular YouTube channel with over 15 million subscribers that uploads new videos about consumer technology every day. Luckily the editorial team was able to recover its channel within 24 hours, but not all content creators who’s channel is hacked are that fortunate.

To help those in need, YouTube is launching a new troubleshooting tool that will help content creators who believe their account has been hacked. “The new support assistant will guide impacted users through re-securing their login and helping them recover their account as the very first step after it's been hacked,” Google, who owns the video platform, says on a new support page.

The new tool will guide content creators through a series of questions about them and their channel to first secure their Google login and undo any changes the hacker has made to their channel.

The recovery tool is currently being tested on a handful of eligible users in the YouTube Help Center. As of writing, the tool is only available in English. Furthermore, some troubleshooting features within the tool are only available for certain creators.

In the future Google wants to make the YouTube recovery tool available to all users. The search engine mogul doesn’t say when we can expect a global launch of the new tool. Hopefully it's sooner than later.