I posted a homemade video to YouTube once. It was of a coworker chugging a bottle of soy sauce, then puking it back up. YouTube’s automod blocked it for nudity. It was literally just a few guys in the office, joking around while this guy chugged soy sauce. We were wearing military uniforms, so the automod probably misinterpreted the tan T-shirt as bare skin or something.
They gave me only one chance to contest the block, and when I submitted my response, it was almost immediately denied. I guarantee that was an automated response and not a real person who reviewed my case.
Nearly a decade later, I noticed it let me contest it again, so I submitted another request and got an actual human response this time, saying I was right, there was no nudity in the video. My video was restored. But I had several years with no access to the video because YouTube blocked it.
I also posted another homemade video with my own audio compilation of pop/rock music over it. It was up for a few years, until YouTube started scanning videos for copyrighted music. Now the video is muted and it’s been so long, I don’t think I have the original copy anymore. I can’t pull it from YouTube because it’s just mute. They won’t give me access to the audio of the video.
So that’s a home video I made that I just don’t have the full unedited version of anymore, thanks to YouTube. Definitely don’t use them as a backup service for your videos.