YouTube Premium users who cheated their way into purchasing the services at a cheaper rate are now getting caught.
YouTube started canceling its Premium subscriptions for users who purchased one using a VPN.
A few days ago, users on Reddit started complaining about sudden cancellations by YouTube.
"Just saw this email and am very confused. Seems legit, but not sure why my membership is being cancelled. Is this real? Why would my premium be cancelled? I have no change in payment info and it is still valid," shared one of the platform's users.
Others quickly noticed that those who purchased the subscription through a VPN got their plan canceled.
"Confirmed it's a crackdown on cheap VPN subscriptions. Have just spoken to customer service who stated that as I 'moved' to a different location from the one I signed up at (Ukraine but UK based), the service has been cancelled until I sign up with a UK card and address. From £2.30 a month to £12.99. Yikes....," one Redditor explained their situation.
Google, YouTube's parent company, started restricting its Premium subscriptions because a number of users purchased them through VPN, getting a cheaper deal than in their home country.
While Google hasn't issued any official statement on the matter, its support representative shared via PCMag that "YouTube has initiated the cancellation of premium memberships for accounts identified as having falsified signup country information," continuing with "due to violating YouTube's Paid Terms of Service, these users will receive an email and an in-app notification informing them of the cancellation."
The urge to find a cheaper deal to be able to use YouTube's Premium account comes from the company's pricing system. For example, a YouTube Premium month subscription costs 129 Indian rupees (about $1,54) in India, while the same subscription is priced at 16 Swiss francs (about $18) in Switzerland. The price of a YouTube Premium monthly subscription in the US is $13.99, while in the UK, it’s £12 (about $15).
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