Google’s AI deletes manga artist’s entire digital life overnight

Popular Japanese manga artist Masahiro Itosugi says his Google account was automatically suspended, and that old transcripts were wiped in the process.

The files were private drafts, and Google’s AI moderation tool flagged the content without warning before purging it.

As Itosugi was locked out of his account, the suspension also wiped access to other Google platforms, such as Gmail, YouTube, and his whole storage drive.

“It's a real hassle. I was using that Google account for all sorts of sites and services,” Itosugi posted on his X account on May 16th, in Japanese.

Frustratingly for the artist, his appeal for review was rejected, effectively leaving him without his artistic portfolio.

The artist also added that the more scrupulous might not be affected as badly as he was, saying, “This might not affect the goody-two-shoes out there.”

ところで恥を忍んで告白するのですが、私、Googleから垢BANされました。昔描いた漫画のデータをドライブにアップしている時に警告が出て、再審査請求も却下され、見事垢BAN。

まじで、困るよ。いろんなサイトやサービスにGoogleアカウントを使っていたので。…

undefined 糸杉柾宏＠『寝取り魔法使いの冒険』第１第３ 月曜更新 (@masahiroitosugi) May 16, 2026

Black box moderation

For the past couple of years, Google's enforcement has reportedly become more aggressive in its storage detection.

In May 2024, romance writer K. Renee lost access to 10 works in progress, amounting to around 220,000 words, when Google Drive deleted her work.

The reason for the deletion was unclear at the time, as it could have been either inappropriate content or a spam detector, with the author sharing her work with a high number of alpha and beta recipients.

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In late 2025, in the coding community, an app developer from Greece was left feeling “absolutely devastated” after an AI agent, Gemini 3 Pro, wiped his entire drive.

And perhaps the most controversial instance occurred in 2022, when a father was banned from Google's services for taking medical photos of his toddler son's groin condition. Google refused to reinstate his account, even when the father was cleared by a police investigation.

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