"Not Indian"… YouTube Cracks Down on Proxy Subscribers, Memberships Sometimes Terminated

YouTube "Subscriber Location Can Be Verified"

YouTube is strengthening crackdowns on subscribers who use VPNs to disguise their access country in order to use the Premium membership at a lower cost.

Photo by Pixabay

Recently, foreign media such as The Verge and TechCrunch reported that YouTube sent emails to some Premium membership subscribers stating, "Your subscription is canceled due to inaccurate registration country."

YouTube has set different subscription fees for Premium based on local purchasing power and prices in each country. In Korea, the fee was raised by 43% last year and is currently 14,900 KRW per month. The fee for iPhone users increased from 14,000 KRW to 19,500 KRW, which is higher than that for Android users.

After the price increase, the number of users who used VPNs to bypass and subscribe as if they were in countries with relatively cheaper fees such as India, Egypt, and Ukraine increased. According to Naver Data Lab search trends at the time, the number of searches for "YouTube Premium bypass" surged sharply compared to the same month the previous year. In response, YouTube took strong measures such as sending subscription cancellation emails to bypass subscribers.

Recently, posts expressing dissatisfaction have flooded local U.S. communities, claiming that their YouTube Premium subscriptions were canceled. The message reads, "Your YouTube Premium membership has been canceled, and your YouTube Premium membership has ended." Some users reported that after contacting YouTube customer service, they were told their membership was canceled because they 'moved' to a location different from the country they registered in.

YouTube has not given a clear answer regarding forced subscription cancellations but stated, "We have a system to verify user location. If the country of subscription and the country from which the user accesses YouTube differ, we request the member to update their payment information to their current country."

Earlier, in February, YouTube announced, "If a member is away from the country where the membership was purchased for more than six months, YouTube may suspend the membership." Industry experts widely view this as a measure to prevent bypass subscriptions.