Removed Without Warning: When the Bots Can't Recognise Art

Yesterday, YouTube deleted our entire channel.

Fourteen years of work, archived interviews, artist talks, and events. Removed. Deleted. Wiped out.

No conversation. 

No explanation that made sense. 

Just a generic email pointing to "sex and nudity policy" violations. One warning. One strike. No opportunity to correct, review, or appeal. And just like that, Axis was removed from YouTube.

Let’s be clear: this wasn’t pornography. It was artist focused and educational, and part of our mission to make contemporary art accessible to more people.

So what happened?

The first issue flagged was a private, unpublished video, never even made public, containing a recorded conversation with an artist who works in adult performance. The discussion centred around audience-building in digital culture. The second was a strike for including a link to an artist’s website in the description of our video Social Art Bingo. A website that, we suspect, was flagged because it contained a painting that depicted breasts.

Yes, you read that right. A painting.

That was enough to trigger a strike and, we assume, trip some unseen threshold that caused YouTube to shut down our channel entirely. We appealed. We explained. We got nowhere.

YouTube’s policy says it allows exceptions for educational, documentary, scientific, or artistic content. But in practice, that seems to depend on whether an algorithm can tell the difference. Ours couldn’t. Or wouldn’t. And no human seems to have stepped in to check.

This raises a bigger question: is this simply the result of automated systems gone mad, or are we witnessing a quiet shift towards more aggressive censorship by large platforms?

Because what’s being erased here is not just videos, it’s context, history, and public access to culture. The internet promised a more open, democratic space. But increasingly, we’re at the mercy of policies applied without transparency and without care. Art has always explored the body. Nudity and sexuality have long been central to the history of art, from classical sculpture to contemporary performance. But art isn’t just about form; it’s about challenging ideas, confronting norms, and asking difficult questions. The idea that this kind of work is now deemed unfit for platforms is not just frustrating, it’s dangerous.

We’re not asking for special treatment. We’re asking for platforms to understand the difference between art and abuse. Between education and exploitation. Between context and content.

If that distinction no longer matters, what future do artists, educators, and small art organisations have online?

We’d like our channel back. But more than that, we’d like a conversation.

Because if platforms can’t recognise art, they’re not just failing artists, they’re failing the public too!