Sorry to hear that - my son's yt account got banned as we missed the emails requesting ID (our fault, he never reads his emails). It was pretty gutting to lose

Sorry to hear that - my son's yt account got banned as we missed the emails requesting ID (our fault, he never reads his emails). It was pretty gutting to lose all the content he uploaded (much of it he hadn't saved elsewhere), but more the followers and connections he had built up over 18 months. We tried everything but like you found, once they have made a (automated) decision, there doesn't seem to be any fix other than moving forwards with a new plan/account/site/app.