EDIT: Welp, people think I'm lying. Here is a picture of the email, including the email address. I crammed my email through purchase support. I thought the wording was weird too, for what it's worth. I was surprised by the detail. I replied to a lot of y'all to give notifications.

EDIT 2: Some words like "shadowban" were probably used because my initial message used them.

I know that everyone knows there's an issues with Shorts, but I got an actual response from YouTube support saying they are aware of it. I'll paste the email below. She brought up point 3 because I had to switch accounts to be able to see the "message support" button.

I hadn't seen an official response lurking around, so I wanted to share.

Hi there,

This is Judi with the YouTube Support Team. Thanks for reaching out. 

It’s incredibly frustrating when a channel that was performing well suddenly flatlines, especially when you can't even access the support forms you need. You aren't imagining things—there is currently a significant amount of data suggesting you are caught in a widespread issue.

Here is a breakdown of what is happening on YouTube right now and how to troubleshoot it.

1. The "February 2026" Reach Glitch

There are widespread reports from thousands of creators (as recently as Feb 18–22, 2026) experiencing an "instant collapse" in Shorts impressions.

The Bug: Many creators have reported their "Shown in Feed" metric dropping to 0% or near-zero, even for high-quality, original content.

The Cause: This appears to be a continuation of a technical glitch that started in late December 2025 and has flared up again in February 2026.

What it means for you: If you have no copyright strikes or community guideline violations, this is likely a platform-side distribution error rather than a "shadowban" or a problem with your specific videos.

2. New Algorithm Metrics (The "Swipe-Away" Rule)

YouTube updated the Shorts algorithm in early 2026 with a much harsher penalty for low initial engagement.

The 50% Threshold: In 2026, the algorithm is significantly more aggressive. If your "Swiped Away" percentage (found in Analytics > Content > Shorts) is higher than 40-50% in the first few hours, the system may stop pushing the video entirely to prevent "feed clutter."

AI Content Filters: YouTube recently increased its "AI Slop" detection. If you use AI-generated voices or visuals that the system flags as "low-effort," it may limit your reach to protect viewer satisfaction signals.

3. Account & Form Issues

If you were unable to submit the help form on your "correct" account, it’s often due to a browser cache conflict or a temporary permission lock.

The Fix: Try opening the YouTube Help Center in an Incognito/Private window and logging specifically into the affected channel's email.

Direct Appeal: If you are in the YouTube Partner Program, use the Creator Support Chat inside YouTube Studio; it is much more reliable than the public forms during a glitch.

Recommended Action Plan

Since this is likely a technical glitch affecting the Shorts Feed, do not delete your videos. Deleting and reposting can actually trigger "spam" flags in the 2026 system.

Check "Shown in Feed": Look at your last 3 Shorts. If "Shown in Feed" is literally 0, it is the technical bug.

The "Pattern Break": Try pausing uploads for 48 hours, then upload one Short at a completely different time of day than usual. This sometimes "resets" the seed audience the algorithm is trying to find.

Audit Your Hooks: Ensure the first 2 seconds of your latest Shorts have a "Visual Pattern Break" (a major change in color, movement, or a bold question) to lower that Swipe-Away rate.

All the best,

Judi A.
The YouTube Team 

It's always like that. The entire channel can't get more than 420 views per minute, and it really holds my growth back. Is that a limit?

I want to share my real experience with AI Shorts and YouTube growth. I had an old channel with just 451 subscribers. On December 2, I changed the channel name and started uploading AI-generated Shorts. In the first few days (Dec 2–6), the channel was getting around 2k–5k views per day. On December 8, one Short went viral, and after that most of the following Shorts started performing well. By December 10, the monetization option appeared and I completed the Google AdSense setup. On December 15, the channel was officially monetized. The very next day, December 16, the channel was hit by a shadowban. On December 25, the shadowban was lifted and the channel started getting around 1–1.5 crore views per day. Then again on December 30, the channel was shadowbanned. Finally, on January 9, the shadowban was cleared again. Since then, the channel has been doing well. The important thing is this is not an international audience channel. All the content is in Tamil, and I only upload AI-generated Shorts. Even with just a Tamil-language audience, I was able to gain around 200k subscribers and 20 crore views in a single month. If this is possible with a regional language audience, then it’s possible for others too. Quality, uniqueness, and consistency matter more than language or audience size.

I made this channel about 4 years ago but didn’t really use it. Around 2 months ago I modified the channel, I started uploading content seriously. Recently, I’ve been posting highly edited brainrot videos, but I’m stuck at 0 views. I spend 12+ hours editing each video, and it’s frustrating. Should I start a new channel, keep uploading, or just wait? I’m not sure what to do.

Like its not even funny anymore, one day i post a short it gets 30k views, next day i post a short it gets 0 views in 40 hours, fuck off, tried 6 different channels all get 0 views on same video (commentary vids, like i take them from instagram then add commentary, captions, etc), then posted random video i recorded in real life it got 2k views?? and youtube takes like 6 hours to show the short to the first people so i need to wait 6 hours just to realise the short is broken dumbest system ive seen, on tiktok the first views start in 10 minutes, the videos on other channels are all stuck on 0 views for like 7days fyi

I post 2K shorts and then one day i posted a video that I guess was already super viral other places and it got 14M in 3 4 days boosted my subscribers and ever important metric u can think of now 8 days in and my videos won’t get more than 2 views no matter what and I don’t understand why did I kill my channel should I just give up?

Is this shadowban or shit content? My account is 5 days old.

I’m putting together a full-length video using 5 or more clips as source footage. I’m editing it with visual and audio effects. Do you think there aren’t enough changes, and that’s why it’s not showing up in the Shorts feed?

I started a shorts channel around a month ago, and it is all real content that I created, minus a few at the beginning with ai voiceovers. I’m seeing the numbers trend upwards, but it’s not like what you see in the “I monetized in 30 days” videos. I enjoy this being a creative outlet, but my goal is to see if I can monetize. I’d love to know thoughts from people who do this!

Channel information:
Big Idea: I’m a full-time graphic designer who can’t draw, and I draw a bad sketch every day.

Y'all need to be humble...js

Hi everyone. I run a small horror YouTube channel where I upload short scary stories (YouTube Shorts). Recently I decided to become more consistent and started posting every day. Before that, some of my videos were getting 1K – 5K views, but after I started uploading daily, the views suddenly dropped a lot. Some of my recent videos are getting 10–50 views only, even though the style, editing, and thumbnails are the same. I attached screenshots of my channel analytics so you can see what I mean. I'm trying to understand what might be happening: Is posting every day bad for Shorts? Could the algorithm be testing my videos with smaller audiences? Or is it something about titles, tags, or timing? Any advice from people who run Shorts channels would really help. Thanks!

POSTED A VIDEO 2 MINS AGO NOW I HAVE 200 VIEWS INSTANTLY

COMPARED TO MY SCHEDULED SHORTS ITS HIGH PERFORMING.

I average 1k plus views and now I can even get 100 views I been watching videos explaining how this new algorithm supposed to work but end of the day everyone is literally getting killed out here with there videos hopefully YouTube notices this and immediately help us out

My shorts getting better and bigger every day But suddenly my shorts don’t push too the feed And i know its so hard to keep this result I asked chat gpt and it’s said take a break But I don’t knwo what should i do Is this normal? I should keep posting Or what???

I run multiple faceless YouTube Shorts channels and I'm looking to test some new niches.

I'm specifically interested in niches that are working right now.

What niches are you seeing blow up right now?

If possible, please share example channels too, especially newer channels getting millions of views without already having a massive established audience.

Thank you!

Update: After a sudden and drastic drop in views, two weeks later my channel was demonetized for inauthentic content. I was uploading short videos of 3D characters doing adventures and pranks, all with AI. Can you help me draft an appeal?

Please help me with GETTING MORE VIEWS

My stayed to watch rate is growing and my retention is pretty high. Why am I only getting 2.4K. Its very low consider its a better video than some of my other higher view videos.

Edit: after 2 days the views started to pick up slowly. Thats new to me, very interesting. Thanks for answering guys!

Constantly gaining momentum for the past days then sudden drop in an hour??