ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq – YouTube has terminated at least 20 channels from the Kurdistan Region in the past week under the pretext that they had a shared monetization account, coming after one of the channels was shut down over copyright violations.

The first channel was terminated on September 17, after receiving a copyright strike for publishing a Rubik’s cube solving video that the influencer claims was public domain and should not be subjected to copyright restrictions.

The channel had a shared AdSense account with dozens of other Kurdish YouTubers. AdSense is an advertising platform run by Google that allows online creators to earn money by displaying ads on their content.

In the days after, many of the other channels (between 20 and 25) were also terminated due to their AdSense link, despite not committing copyright infringements themselves.

An email from YouTube sent to one of the creators reads: “We have terminated your channel because we concluded that it was linked to a channel that was terminated for having three or more Copyright strikes.”

Mabast Bahaadin, known as Mabast King on YouTube where he has over 300,000 subscribers, described the terminations as “a great injustice.”

“The creators were aware that they were sharing the same AdSense, but their channels have no other links to one another,” Bahaddin told The New Region, noting that the content of the terminated channels also varies greatly.

The terminated channels have over two million subscribers combined, with the largest channel having over 400,000, while the smallest has around 100,000.

“They have suffered great financial loss, but more importantly sentimental loss because they have lost all their videos and their followers,” Bahaddin added.

The YouTuber stated that they have been able to retrieve one of the channels, which has over 150,000 subscribers, after consultations with YouTube, adding that they are in constant communication with the platform in hopes of retrieving the remaining channels too.

YouTube’s copyright policies state: “If your channel has 3 active copyright strikes, or if any channels linked to yours have 3 active copyright strikes, your channel is subject to termination.”

Bahaddin acknowledged that the policy allows for terminating linked channels but maintained that the rule should not apply in this case considering the channels and their creators have no other links apart from the AdSense.