YouTube\u2019s ban email to creators said: \u201cWe know this is probably very upsetting news, but it’s our job to make sure that YouTube is a safe place for all. If we think a channel severely violates our policies, we take it down to protect other users on the platform – but if you believe we’ve made the wrong call, you can appeal this decision. You’ll find more information about the policy in question and how to submit an appeal below.\u201d Creators report that appealing didn’t change the decision.<\/p>\n
The email continued: \u201cExplicit content that’s meant to be sexually gratifying isn’t allowed on YouTube.\u201d <\/p>\n
ASMR content creators have long asserted that their content is not sexual or pornographic. Erotic ASMR exists, but that\u2019s not what these artists were doing on YouTube. <\/p>\n
ASMR artist Bunnii\u2019s<\/a> channel was removed at around 227,000 subscribers and over 55 million views across hundreds of videos. She told me she started uploading content to YouTube because, unlike during her streams on Twitch, she didn\u2019t have to rely on subscriptions and donations to earn money. The passive income she earned from YouTube meant she could offer that content without a paywall. \u201cI’ve been so lucky to have such a supportive community but not everyone has money to spare to help make sure I continue creating content that they find comforting for anxiety and sleep. YouTube was a place I could direct people who wanted to offer support but couldn’t directly,\u201d she said. \u201cI hate that the option is gone. There are people who really do depend on this kind of content to get a good night’s sleep, deal with insomnia, or manage mental health issues like anxiety, PTSD, and depression (therapy and whatnot isn’t exactly cheap or accessible to everyone). And in times like this when world issues feel so heavy and no one can afford anything, having a free, easily accessible option, where the creator can benefit from just views is so important.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n “I find it really disturbing to hear that, when I am making content that is looking into the camera and saying \u2018you’re okay, you’re safe'”<\/p>\n Being sexualized not just by people outside of the community who misunderstand it, but the platform where she\u2019d grown an audience and made a living, is \u201cincredibly disheartening,\u201d Bunnii said, and she finds YouTube\u2019s guidelines and decisions too vague. People are speculating about what she did to deserve removal, she said, even though she considers everything she uploaded to YouTube family friendly.<\/p>\n \u201cYouTube deciding to ban my account and many others feels like they are siding with gross sexualization of ASMR from people outside the community. Making it feel like something that is intended to be comforting, is taboo,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd while this is uncomfortable for the creators, I can’t imagine it makes the people who enjoy this content or consume it for sleep and anxiety feel comfortable with these decisions either. We’re all trying to navigate a form of content where the boundaries aren’t concrete but deleting channels with no warning is scary. I’m sure any of us would complied given one, and kept it in mind moving forward. It feels like they don’t care for their creators.\u201d<\/p>\n In 2019, YouTube added language to its terms of use<\/a> that forbids content that is \u201cmeant to be sexually gratifying in nature.\u201d Other platforms, like Patreon, have similar terms. This standard is incredibly difficult to define<\/a>. In 2022, YouTube updated its terms to specifically mention ASMR: \u201cWe\u2019ve strengthened our policies to better identify and action ASMR content that is sexually gratifying. ASMR videos with audio sexual sounds may be age-restricted or removed from the platform,\u201d YouTube said in a policy update announcement.<\/a> Creators faced a similar wave of bans<\/a> following that change.\u00a0<\/p>\n When Slight Sounds started making ASMR content, she said, most people still didn\u2019t understand what it was. \u201cIf you liked ASMR, you kept it to yourself because there was this judgment around it because people didn’t understand,\u201d she said. \u201cOne of the things that people would always say is like, \u2018Oh, is that a sex thing? Is that a sexual thing?\u2019\u201d But for most people making it, there was no sexual connotation, she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI think because ASMR is very female-dominated \u2014 because it is a very intimate video style, and there is this sweet woman taking care of you and whispering to you \u2014 I think people, especially men, confuse closeness and intimacy with sex,\u201d she said. Some ASMR is sensual, but sensual does not equal sexual, she said. \u201cThere is this inherent thing that happens when men interact with women online in a specific way, and there is this sexual energy that they feel, even if it’s just closeness that they’re feeling. I think that ASMR has always had this undercurrent of: No matter what you do as a woman in ASMR, someone is going to find it sexual. Someone’s going to call it weird. Someone’s going to fetishize it.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Some ASMR artists also upload content to adult sites like Onlyfans and Fansly, which are often kept separate from their other, more public platforms like YouTube. Slight Sounds started uploading content to these kinds of sites a few years ago. \u201cI had thought about it for many years before, but didn’t because of the judgment and the fear, and knowing that if I made that decision to make erotic content outside of YouTube, there would be so many people that would lose respect for me,\u201d she said. \u201cThat would say all of the work that you’ve done, no matter how separate the two are, is going to undermine your life’s work, you know, and that’s really hard to to think about.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n She made \u201ca very big point\u201d to keep these sites and links separate from her YouTube channel, she said. \u201cWomen will make a choice, an autonomous choice, to do something that doesn’t even affect the other content they’re making. It is a wholly separate experience. And we’re still being told that we’re sexualizing ASMR on YouTube, and we’re being sexual,\u201d she said. \u201cI find it really disturbing to hear that, when I am making content that is looking into the camera and saying \u2018you’re okay, you’re safe,\u2019 and giving people a place to escape the world and just be with themselves and me for a little bit. My content has stayed consistently the same. I have not pushed any boundaries, and I am still, it seems, being punished for something that has nothing to do with my YouTube. It is really hard to think about.\u201d<\/p>\n Updated 12:40 p.m. ET with comment from YouTube. Headline updated to reflect that information.<\/p>\n About the author<\/p>\n Sam Cole is writing from the far reaches of the internet, about sexuality, the adult industry, online culture, and AI. She’s the author of How Sex Changed the Internet and the Internet Changed Sex.<\/p>\n ![\"Samantha](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/404-sam-10--1-.jpg\")
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