BARTLETT, Tenn. – – A Bartlett woman says YouTube “betrayed” her after deleting her channel last month. Jessica McLaughlin suffers from Lyme Disease. It keeps her in constant pain.
“It’s like having a chronic flu all the time with aches and pains,” she says.
She started that YouTube channel two years ago to document her attempts at pain management and help others suffering from the disease.
“If what I do works then they will be able to see the before and the after,” McLaughlin says.
Steering clear of opioids, she tried CBD oil nine months ago and posted a video about it. It’s a controversial substance because it’s derived from the same plant marijuana comes from.
She says YouTube flagged the post last month, sent her a message, and ended up deleting the channel because the video “… encourages or promotes violent or dangerous acts that have an inherent risk of serious physical harm or death.”
“I made sure that the product that I used was a legal supplement with no THC in it,” McLaughlin says, “I’m not promoting harm or dangerous acts or really promoting anything. I was just documenting my experience.”
McLaughlin lost more than 600 videos she hadn’t backed up. She also lost connection to her 958 subscribers.
“Everything is gone,” she says.
Her website has also been ruined since it linked to all her YouTube videos.
We asked YouTube a number of questions about this, including whether or not something can be done about all those videos McLaughlin lost but, as of this writing, we haven’t gotten any answers.
“What do I do now?” McLaughlin asks, “I don’t even know where I’m supposed to go from here.”
It’s been particularly rough on her because May is Lyme Disease Awareness month and she hasn’t been able to participate much because of what happened.