> A few days ago, I was prompted to verify my phone number by Google. Immediately after completing the verification, I received an email notifying me that Google had overwritten all my personal information. It turns out that because my mom is the one paying the phone bill, they automatically "verified" the name on my account to be hers and updated everything on my account without my consent.
It sounds like someone at Google (not necessarily a programmer) needs to read "Falsehoods Programmers Believe About Phone Numbers:"
> 4. A phone number uniquely identifies an individual
> Immediately after completing the verification, I received an email notifying me that Google had overwritten all my personal information. It turns out that because my mom is the one paying the phone bill, they automatically "verified" the name on my account to be hers
How is Google or YT able to determine the subscriber behind a phone number? Caller ID lookup?
We should stop normalizing giving phone numbers out to companies. If I don't want you to call me, why would I give you my phone number. And on the other side of that coin, why do you want my phone number if you're not planning to call me? It's not an identifier. Just don't do it.
Same with social security numbers. You don't get it unless I expect you to send me a tax-related form at tax time.
It's 2025, and the split-brain world of Google vs YouTube vs AdSense accounts has still not been solved, and is only getting worse. It seems you need to be an expert in how Google backend is structured to get anything done on YouTube. To my understanding:
Google account: everyone knows what it is, your personal account. Unless you have GSuite, then nobody knows what it's meant to be and let you do.
YouTube account (channel): there is now a many-to-many relation between Google accounts and YouTube accounts, but they otherwise function pretty much like pre-Google+ YouTube accounts. You can even change the primary Google account of a YouTube account, that requires clicking a button and waiting for a week. Then there is this brand vs non-brand distinction, where you can convert from non-brand to brand, but not the other way around, and some stuff used to work only with one of these types. And I think nowadays there is some way to make a Google account without a (named) YouTube channel, if you're just a viewer that doesn't even comment or create playlists, but there is not much reason to do that.
AdSense account: A billing account, once again with many-to-many mapping to Google accounts, and also many-to-many [0] mapping to AdSense projects ("sites"). Requires unique billing details, and apparently unique address as well [1], but otherwise shouldn't do much.
So in the linked situation, I think editing Google account login info changed the AdSense account details, which is definitely unexpected. YouTube account was probably not the problem here, I suspect the author would have had same issue if they were selling ads on a website instead of YouTube channel, though of course you have to use different AdSense UI if you sell ads on Youtube vs on the web, which probably further complicates things.
Anyway, since it hit the frontpage of ~~Google's only working support channel~~ HackerNews, it will soon be solved (for that single creator only, probably).
The only good solutions to this mess seem to be to either make YouTube account a standalone thing (cutting AdSense from the picture, and using Google accounts only for authentication), or to decouple all the accounts and make links between them more configurable / clear. Anything in-between, and we get (waves hands) this.
But both of these solutions would also make it too clear where to cut if/when the Google antitrust process comes, which doesn't make me think it will happen anytime soon.
This really sucks. Why is it so important to know someone's legal name, anyway? If their content is problematic, delete it. If it's not, let them use a pseudonym.
What is the appetite for self-hosting streams? I've worked at a variety of ISP gigs and really don't think the bandwidth cost is that crazy of a blocker. But would any streamers ever WANT to self-host something? I feel like people would love to throw off the shackles of YouTube and Twitch, but are probably less enthused about not having their channel advertised to the platform's users. Things like maintaining your own Stripe account also sucks.
(My angle is charging for software to do this, not making another hosted service. Just don't think there is actually a market. Complaining on Reddit when the bureaucracy of Twitch/YouTube stymies you seems to be 100% effective. But will it always be?)
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11 Comments
beretguy
Everybody should stop using Google products.
flyinghamster
Looks like Reddit is diving further down the enshittification rat hole. Link is behind a login wall, at least for me.
1over137
> I don’t know what to do. All I can ask is that you help me try to reach YouTube if possible.
Here’s what to do: stop being a digital serf to google.
crest
If you're in the EU (or UK) you have the right to have your personal (mis)information corrected. Threaten legal action under GDPR and follow through.
atomicfiredoll
> A few days ago, I was prompted to verify my phone number by Google. Immediately after completing the verification, I received an email notifying me that Google had overwritten all my personal information. It turns out that because my mom is the one paying the phone bill, they automatically "verified" the name on my account to be hers and updated everything on my account without my consent.
It sounds like someone at Google (not necessarily a programmer) needs to read "Falsehoods Programmers Believe About Phone Numbers:"
> 4. A phone number uniquely identifies an individual
What a bureaucratic nightmare.
xyst
> Immediately after completing the verification, I received an email notifying me that Google had overwritten all my personal information. It turns out that because my mom is the one paying the phone bill, they automatically "verified" the name on my account to be hers
How is Google or YT able to determine the subscriber behind a phone number? Caller ID lookup?
hansvm
This isn't practical for everyone, but I've had good luck showing up to the Googleplex in person when their errors were too egregious.
est
Anyone remembers Google Video? Full of crap like this. Lost competition to Youtube.
ryandrake
We should stop normalizing giving phone numbers out to companies. If I don't want you to call me, why would I give you my phone number. And on the other side of that coin, why do you want my phone number if you're not planning to call me? It's not an identifier. Just don't do it.
Same with social security numbers. You don't get it unless I expect you to send me a tax-related form at tax time.
pzmarzly
It's 2025, and the split-brain world of Google vs YouTube vs AdSense accounts has still not been solved, and is only getting worse. It seems you need to be an expert in how Google backend is structured to get anything done on YouTube. To my understanding:
Google account: everyone knows what it is, your personal account. Unless you have GSuite, then nobody knows what it's meant to be and let you do.
YouTube account (channel): there is now a many-to-many relation between Google accounts and YouTube accounts, but they otherwise function pretty much like pre-Google+ YouTube accounts. You can even change the primary Google account of a YouTube account, that requires clicking a button and waiting for a week. Then there is this brand vs non-brand distinction, where you can convert from non-brand to brand, but not the other way around, and some stuff used to work only with one of these types. And I think nowadays there is some way to make a Google account without a (named) YouTube channel, if you're just a viewer that doesn't even comment or create playlists, but there is not much reason to do that.
AdSense account: A billing account, once again with many-to-many mapping to Google accounts, and also many-to-many [0] mapping to AdSense projects ("sites"). Requires unique billing details, and apparently unique address as well [1], but otherwise shouldn't do much.
So in the linked situation, I think editing Google account login info changed the AdSense account details, which is definitely unexpected. YouTube account was probably not the problem here, I suspect the author would have had same issue if they were selling ads on a website instead of YouTube channel, though of course you have to use different AdSense UI if you sell ads on Youtube vs on the web, which probably further complicates things.
Anyway, since it hit the frontpage of ~~Google's only working support channel~~ HackerNews, it will soon be solved (for that single creator only, probably).
The only good solutions to this mess seem to be to either make YouTube account a standalone thing (cutting AdSense from the picture, and using Google accounts only for authentication), or to decouple all the accounts and make links between them more configurable / clear. Anything in-between, and we get (waves hands) this.
But both of these solutions would also make it too clear where to cut if/when the Google antitrust process comes, which doesn't make me think it will happen anytime soon.
[0] https://support.google.com/adsense/thread/11680365/how-we-ca…
[1] https://old.reddit.com/r/PartneredYoutube/comments/17vb8w8/c…
jrockway
This really sucks. Why is it so important to know someone's legal name, anyway? If their content is problematic, delete it. If it's not, let them use a pseudonym.
What is the appetite for self-hosting streams? I've worked at a variety of ISP gigs and really don't think the bandwidth cost is that crazy of a blocker. But would any streamers ever WANT to self-host something? I feel like people would love to throw off the shackles of YouTube and Twitch, but are probably less enthused about not having their channel advertised to the platform's users. Things like maintaining your own Stripe account also sucks.
(My angle is charging for software to do this, not making another hosted service. Just don't think there is actually a market. Complaining on Reddit when the bureaucracy of Twitch/YouTube stymies you seems to be 100% effective. But will it always be?)