My Google account got suspended because of NewPipe

[haistakaavittukaikkisaatana]

My Google account got suspended yesterday, I was like what the heck is going on. First I got an email from Google saying that I was using 3rd party app outside of Play Store to go around Youtube ads, also it said that my account has been suspended. I got locked out of my Google account, I had to factory reset my phone and create a new Google account.

NewPipe is the only app that I downloaded outside of Play Store, so beware guys.

I really have no idea how they can suspend my account since NewPipe isnt even using any Google account information, it only retrieves the video source.

[haistakaavittukaikkisaatana]

Maybe its Google Backup that triggered it, somekind of algorithm that noticed 3rd party app or settings and traced the app, who knows.

[gkeegan]

How long have you used NewPipe? I've downloaded hundreds of gigabytes over the few years and have had no issues. Also, what region are you in?

If you have a screenshot of what the email said could you attach it here?

[TobiGr]

That sounds serious. Could you please show us the mail content?

[haistakaavittukaikkisaatana]

Unfortunately I dont cant access my Gmail anymore since its suspended, and I forgot to take a screenshot, Im sorry.

Im from Finland, and Ive been using NewPipe around 2 weeks.

I didnt install NewPipe yet after factory resetting my phone, I will stick to default Youtube app for now.

And I didnt download anything with NewPipe, only used it to watch videos.

[TobiGr]

Hmm. That's bad and I am sorry for you. I have never hear of this happen because of NewPipe. You can try these steps to restore your account.

[haistakaavittukaikkisaatana]

I tried to restore my account by using my phone number, but I was unable to restore it due to violation of Googles terms.

Oh well, its not the end of the world though.

[undeadfox]

and Ive been using NewPipe around 2 weeks.

Have you used subscriptions import/export?

[haistakaavittukaikkisaatana]

No I didnt use that feature.

[Better521]

Maybe haistakaavittukaikkisaatana is a troll. Why that name? In Finnish Haistakaa vittu kaikki saatana is (Fu*k You all bastards)

[haistakaavittukaikkisaatana]

Now that I think this more it couldnt be Google Backup either because I have it set to manual to save some battery life, and I didnt backup my phone yesterday.

[resynth1943]

Ask them what evidence they have that proves you've been a naughty boy :p using NewPipe.

[hkzlab]

@haistakaavittukaikkisaatana Did you have Play Protect enabled in the play store? That indeed scans the applications you have installed in your unit, afaik it also sends info to Google for analysis

EDIT: Just to point out, I'm not suggesting to anyone to disable this feature. I personally don't use devices with Play Services, so I don't have it, but until we're sure that this is the issue, it would be unwise to disable security features.

[echelon]

This is getting a lot of attention as the top-voted submission on Hacker News. It'll draw the attention of Google engineers, which can hopefully help corroborate and assist in fixing this issue.

Let's hope they reach out and offer some background on this.

[russeg]

First I got an email from Google saying that I was using 3rd party app outside of Play Store to go around Youtube ads ...

No you did not. Google does not reveal reason for account suspensions. Even if they do, it is very vague.

Fake.

[user849281]

Google logs all Android apps start time, namespace, device etc. installed from Google Play, F-Droid etc. You can see it in Google My Activity: https://myactivity.google.com/

[graynk]

I got an email from Google saying ... said that my account has been suspended. I got locked out of my Google account

So where did you receive this email, if your account has been suspended and you got locked out?

[TheAssassin]

Guys, this has gone too wild.
Please stop posting off-topic, please leave analysis to the team. The amount of messages is making it nearly impossible to grasp what's relevant for @haistakaavittukaikkisaatana's report and what's not. Nobody cares what you think "Larry and Sergey" think (sorry whoever posted that, it sounds harsh, but it's a good example for off-topic).

We don't know for sure what's going on as we have zero evidence so far (the OP can't provide any, the reasons sound reasonable), and even if this happened to the OP, this is not the end of the world. Even the OP says it's okay.

Lessons learnt for now:

• Keep your phone as proprietary-service-provider-free as possible. You can never know what's really going on. Only free implementations (like MicroG) allow you to check the source code. I've had an Android phone for around 4 years (my first real smartphone, I was pretty late), and I've always kept it completely Google-free. It's doable!
• Don't rely too much on your Google account. Use separate mail/messaging/... providers or at least different accounts. Ideally you use privacy-friendly services for mail and messaging, and especially nothing that relies on a phone number...
• Don't share too much information with things like Google.
• For <god|not god|multiple gods|Spongebob|Superman|Jebus|whoever>'s sake, make backups! Not being able to provide evidence any more is one thing, not being able to use services any more or even data loss are more than just annoying.

Please keep the discussion within here limited to @haistakaavittukaikkisaatana's original report. We'll clean up this thread soon by hiding or deleting unrelated messages.

This is no offense and I'm sorry if this sounds a bit harsh. It's a maintainers' measure to reduce the heat, analyze based on facts and allow the devs to work efficiently. We do not try to censor you in any way, this is just not the place for this type of conversation.
I can highly recommend joining our IRC channel #newpipe on Freenode to continue this discussion. That's what IRC is meant for. And I can join you speculating about what Google's founders would've thought about this situation!

@TobiGr @theScrabi let's clean up a bit.

[spinda]

@haistakaavittukaikkisaatana

I tried to restore my account by using my phone number, but I was unable to restore it due to violation of Googles terms.

Could you please post a screenshot of this message?

[TheAssassin]

This more and more looks like a (somewhat successful) attempt to troll. Please don't be fooled. There's tons of evidence that disproves what the OP describes. Also, the OP's statements contradict in a few ways. The Internet™ think so, too. And the OP's nick also makes this pretty obvious (once you have the translation).

P.S.: I still strongly recommend anyone to read #2723 (comment), they tips I gave are applicable in general.

[SuperSandro2000]

Didn't find a better translator but see yourself
https://translate.google.com/?text=haistakaa%20vittu%20kaikki%20saatana

[theScrabi]

Uff.

[jimmycheck]

*oof ;p

[resynth1943]

Ouch, that hurt after getting most of my comments hidden lmao

[theScrabi]

Well I thought I'd have to say a last word about the whole situation that will contain an assumption as well as a wise word for rounding up the whole discussion.

[KeepBotting]

so as of yet there is no confirmation that this happened due to NewPipe's presence on an Android device, or indeed that it happened at all?

[TheAssassin]

@KeepBotting no, there isn't. See also #2723 (comment).

As said, if this was an attempt to troll, it had some success. If not, the OP is free to post a reaction. But I doubt they will.

[ivanosh]

fake until you provide us email/screenshot/support chat

[TheAssassin]

I'm tired of reading more of these well established statements. A lot of people already wrote that above. I marked a lot of it as off-topic.

The issue has been closed, so there's no need to keep discussing. To avoid any further spam to the participants in this discussion, I'm going to lock this conversation for now.

Thanks to everyone who analyzed this story.