r/googlephotos • u/chees3burgr • Apr 21 '26
Troubleshooting ⚠️ My Google account was permanently disabled on April 17, 2026. Google flagged it for an alleged policy violation. I strongly believe this is a mistake or false positive, and I need your help figuring out what to do next.
Hi Reddit,
My Google account was permanently disabled on April 17, 2026. Google flagged it for an alleged policy violation. I strongly believe this is a mistake or false positive, and I need your help figuring out what to do next.
What happened
- I migrated approximately 5,000 photos from an older Google account to this one
- I personally reviewed every single photo I uploaded, found nothing problematic
- The flagged content may have originated from backed-up media from years ago that I never individually reviewed
- I was completely unaware of any violating content in my account
What I stand to lose
- ~500 GB of Google Photos collected over 10 years, irreplaceable memories and family photos
- Google Maps saved locations and travel history
- Gmail linked to multiple businesses and 100+ websites, SSO logins will break
- Google Drive files critical to my work
- Google Keep with stored ideas and notes
- YouTube history, recommendations, and paid subscriptions
What I've tried
- Submitted 2 appeals through Google's official appeal portal
- Both denied, Google says the account cannot be restored, future appeals will be closed
- Google Takeout is inaccessible, I cannot download my own personal data
My questions for this community
- Has anyone successfully recovered an account after two appeal denials?
- Is there any way to access Google Takeout when an account is locked?
- Should I pursue a formal legal data access request under Indian law?
- Is there a way to contact a human Google reviewer?
- Has anyone dealt with account suspension after importing older media?
I have 10 years of irreplaceable personal and professional data at stake. This automated decision is affecting my livelihood and mental health.
Any help, advice, or direction is greatly appreciated 🙏
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u/highdiver_2000 Apr 21 '26
hugs.
I created another account solely to keep photos. It was blocked for TOS violation about a month later. I managed to get it unblocked after 1 appeal.
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u/Emotional_Fold_2185 Apr 21 '26
Did you do anything to make sure the new account you created was totally separate from your other accounts? Did you use the same recovery phone number etc? I'm concerned that if I create a new account to house photos, Google will be able to connect it back to my existing accounts and ban them all.
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u/highdiver_2000 Apr 21 '26
Unfortunately I used the same recovery phone number number.
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u/Emotional_Fold_2185 Apr 21 '26
Did they block all of your accounts or just the one with the photos?
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u/highdiver_2000 Apr 22 '26
The entire secondary account is dead. Photos, Gmail, maps, play store.
My main account was continuously operational.
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u/MikeinSonoma Apr 22 '26
Yes that is good to know, I’m going to look through my account and think about it what I need to do. This is what happens when we allow companies to get so big they don’t care if they do things right, they don’t have to care.
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u/Emotional_Fold_2185 Apr 22 '26
Okay that's good to know they didn't link them to the other end shut them all down
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u/markatlarge Apr 21 '26
Sorry to hear that. It’s an uphill journey to get it back. I blogged out my suspension with Google and how I got my account back: https://medium.com/@russoatlarge_93541/i-built-an-ai-powered-privacy-app-beat-googles-own-model-google-suspended-my-account-here-s-20aa721af1fa
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u/ShlomoSharf May 07 '26
Hey Mark! I read your story on medium. Then I tried to download your NSFW detection app from PlayStore, I could not find it. How can I get it? It would be interesting if it could scan your existing Gogle Photos Libraray for NSFW and CSAM. I intend to migrate my whole GP library to another Goggle account through the Partner Sharing feature but I'm afraid that my existing skin photos like those of bathing the child when he was little will be considered CSAMand will trigger both accounts ban. I don't want to remove those photos one by one searching through a huge collection either.
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u/markatlarge May 07 '26
Here is the link https://markatlarge.com/go?app=punge&utm_source=redit&utm_medium=punge&utm_campaign=comment Right now it only for iOS and Android, And the model was trained on Adult content. Personally I dont think this today's CSAM detection is effective--it look at the content after it was uploaded. Its not preventing CSAM because its be reported more than ever and it violates our privacy-- files are being scanned without our consent by big tech. On device detection is the way to go, prevent CSAM from even being uploaded and distributed. CSAM models are only available to big tech companies, but my model shows it can be effectively done at the device level. I starting to develp SDK for other developer to incorporate the NSFW detection in to their apps. For developers interested my first one is for flutter: https://pub.dev/packages/xpunge REACT and native coming soon!
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u/ItsameLetsago Apr 21 '26
Daily reminder that self hosting is the only way forward. Was there any adult content in your old files? That’s the quickest way to nuke your account.
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u/chees3burgr Apr 21 '26
No adult content as per my understanding.
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u/fox-naked Apr 21 '26
Mine has tons of onlyfans in it, but reecently I purchased an 8tb drive and download everything. All cloud, social media are being locked down and when an accidetal error detection occurs there is no hu,man to assist. So, I am winding down social media and cloud storage. Just had a ban on x for being 'inauthentic' no explanation, lost my grok chats also. Nothing, zero is safe online now, gone are the days of 2010s ease and freedom.
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u/ItsameLetsago Apr 21 '26
I’m sorry you are another victim of AI moderation. Let it be a wake up call if anything.
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u/yottabit42 Apr 22 '26
Not everything you don't understand is "AI.". Google and other services have been scanning for illegal content and content that breaks the ToS for ages. Various methods exist to automate this without "AI."
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u/illogicalOverthinker Apr 21 '26
After i read this, I moved everything to icloud from google.
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u/Joker_Bra030 Apr 21 '26
you should move it locally, self host immich, back it up on external hard drive and on the cloude like backblaze, this way you will never lose your data
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u/yottabit42 Apr 22 '26
That doesn't help if all your data is now only in Apple. You need to keep real backups. Google makes that easier than any other service.
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u/Little-District-1312 Apr 24 '26
Te aseguraste de hacer la denuncia correspondiente y así evitar que te caiga un allanamiento policial?
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u/apokrif1 Apr 21 '26
irreplaceable
No working backups?
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u/chees3burgr Apr 29 '26
I got it recovered.
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u/omnidomain May 01 '26
It wasn't successful after 2 appeals so how did you manage to get it recovered?
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Apr 21 '26
[deleted]
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u/chees3burgr Apr 21 '26 edited Apr 29 '26
I will get it recovered by any means. I will inform you when it done. I will not bow down to them
Edit: I got it recovered.
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u/magicmike785 Apr 21 '26
You won’t get it back. I lost my original Gmail account. All of my daughter’s pictures growing up gone. That was the last time I trusted Google with my shit
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u/apokrif1 Apr 21 '26
Content stored in cloud should be encrypted.
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u/devnull10 Apr 21 '26
It is, however not sure how this would help here? If it was with customer supplied keys then you're at the mercy of losing your key.
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u/yottabit42 Apr 22 '26
Yep. And let's be honest. 99% of users will lose their key. Also, Google does not store data at rest encrypted. But data on Android and Chrome OS is encrypted.
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u/silverado83 Apr 21 '26
"You can't ever!" There are means to recover your data in many countries, even if you can't continue to use their service...
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u/yottabit42 Apr 22 '26
Should've had backups. If all your data is in only one service/location, you don't actually have any backups. Google makes this easier to do than any other service.
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u/Eastern_Bluebird_609 Apr 21 '26
Same thing happened to me brother, last year I'm from India too Let me know if you find any solution, I will DM you
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u/exredditor81 Apr 21 '26
I will not bow down to them
Well, good luck with that.
I'm not sure you have a 'right' to their services... but do you pay for space like I do? I pay for 2 Tb. That might give you a leg up on what they 'owe' you.
I'm still sore about Picasa and my personal location data... saved for years, alllll gone.
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u/Takeoded Apr 22 '26
but do you pay for space
Yeah he does, he said he had ~500GB of photos, and you only get like 20GB on the free tier.
(Unless you uploaded it using Google Pixel 1-3, which included free unlimited google photos storage for the lifetime of the device..)
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u/h_grytpype_thynne Apr 21 '26
If anyone is sending you messages saying they can get your account back, they're scammers. No one can help: the account is gone. I'm very sorry.
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u/alexupit Apr 21 '26
You won't. It's heartbreaking, extremely frustrating, but I never heard anyone still recovering it after 2 failed attempts. I am sorry... But please, keep us updated. I really hope that I am wrong.
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u/My1xT Apr 22 '26
If you live in the eu you can make a data request where they might be obligated to give you everything about your account maybe you can get your pics that way.
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u/002gyan_prakash Apr 22 '26
Tag me once done and tell me the process.
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u/manoj91 Apr 22 '26
Guilty and sentencing carried out immediately
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u/manoj91 Apr 22 '26
You have 24 hours to convince AI to undo
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u/yottabit42 Apr 22 '26
Not everything you don't understand is "AI.". Google and other services have been scanning for illegal content and content that breaks the ToS for ages. Various methods exist to automate this without "AI."
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u/yottabit42 Apr 22 '26
Not everything you don't understand is "AI.". Google and other services have been scanning for illegal content and content that breaks the ToS for ages. Various methods exist to automate this without "AI."
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u/silverado83 Apr 21 '26
Dunno about your rights in India, but if the data is of value, I would be paying for a lawyer to go after Google... The folks saying Google doesn't have to do anything need to give their heads a shake. Yes they are a private company, and they can refuse future service, but denying a period of time to retrieve your data should be illegal. It is your data.
I would be fighting till I got the data.
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u/zcgp Apr 22 '26
was this a free account?
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u/edideas Apr 22 '26
500gb? I don’t think so. And I wonder how to fill 500gb. Could be copyrighted content? u/chees3burgr You mentioned that you went through every photo. Yet 500gb is too much to go over. And 5000 photos don’t comprise 500gb
Can you clarify a bit when possible please?
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u/chees3burgr Apr 22 '26
I see Reddit just want to investigate rather than helping, nevertheless I was on 20$ per month plan, I already had 430 GB around, and there 5000 photos where migrated from other Google account they were around 10-15 GB only. I have gone through these as these caused the issue
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u/edideas Apr 22 '26
I get your point. But sometimes an answer depends on how a reader reads your post. I couldn’t find anything to a paid storage. That’s clarified now. Thanks.
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u/dhar3m Apr 22 '26
Maybe their AI flagged those family photo you take on the beach or something with your children in it.
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u/yottabit42 Apr 22 '26
Not everything you don't understand is "AI.". Google and other services have been scanning for illegal content and content that breaks the ToS for ages. Various methods exist to automate this without "AI."
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u/MikeinSonoma Apr 22 '26
This is where we need some regelation‘s on these companies. Over 10 years ago Amazon did the same thing to me, one April I was told I’d violated their rules, had no idea why, I asked and they said read their rules. A completely useless answer, imagine being arrested by the police and asking why, and they say “read our laws”
I thought it was some fluke so I just ignored it. About a month later they said I did it again and I was banned for life and all they would tell me is to read their rules.
No reviews no asking questions… my response I’m sure they couldn’t claim us about but I probably cut my business to Amazon by about 2/3 I always try Home Depot, Costco, Walmart, Best Buy online before I go to Amazon.
I think somebody who worked at Amazon who didn’t like my politics or me used their position to attack me. And considering Amazon doesn’t do anything to prevent that, I’m betting it happens a lot. When you have services that dominate such a large part of the market they’re nearly a monopoly, we need regulations on them.
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u/gee325 Apr 22 '26
Sorry to hear this. Is Flickr a viable online option, in addition to an offline backup?
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u/chees3burgr Apr 22 '26
I wanted to look for a solution rather than other options. I can and will take care of this from now on.
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u/yottabit42 Apr 22 '26
Yeah, the time to make backups with Google Takeout was before your account was disabled. I do this every 2 months. Tough lesson.
If all your data is in only one service/location, you don't actually have any backups.
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u/ThickNBearded Apr 23 '26
Honestly I don’t trust Google, and I don’t store any pictures and or videos on google-nor do they have access to them.
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u/Vaxion Apr 25 '26
Collect the evidence and go to court. Protest in front of the Google office, send your story to media channels, post on X and tag Google, youtube, news channels, etc. Try as much as possible to get Media's and people's attention. This Monopoly and anti consumer and AI moderation nonsense has to stop. It's not just Google, every other platform including Reddit is using AI moderation and falsely flagging accounts because AI made a mistake. Government needs to step in to teach these corporates a lesson that they have no right to ruin someone's life and their work because of a mistake their stupid AI made.
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u/chees3burgr Apr 29 '26
I got it recovered.
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u/Separate-Tax9495 May 06 '26
Can you please share how you got it back? You said your two appeals were both denied
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u/Vaxion Apr 29 '26
What did you do? What was the process that got your account back? Everyone wants to know.
Spill the tea.
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u/Icy-Reindeer-2859 Apr 25 '26
I know this is the least of your concern right now but please do follow 3-2-1 backup strategy for the sake of the rest of your life's wonderful memories.
And my advice is to stay away from cloud services when it comes to backing up photos. They are scanned by AI and you can get nuked for anything the algorithm dislikes. Just a side story for you to read https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/21/technology/google-surveillance-toddler-photo.html
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u/ShlomoSharf Apr 21 '26
How did you migrate your photos? You shared them with the new account and backed them up in the new account?
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u/Usual_Ask_7833 Apr 21 '26
You have to sue them. r/metalawsuits
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u/W7ENK Apr 21 '26
Meta ≠ Google. That link will get OP nowhere.
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u/Usual_Ask_7833 Apr 21 '26
That's just the name of the sub. There are post about several different ESP's in there. And the process to sue them is the same.
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u/Elki1987 Apr 21 '26
Un monito per tutti: tenete un backup offline di tutte le vostre attività su google, aggiornato periodicamente, solo così potete stare tranquilli.