Google Account Blocked, Japanese Manga Artist's Work Vanishes Instantly

Japanese manga artist Masahiro Itosugi has lost all his digital archives and works after his daily-used Google account was blocked by Google’s AI. The case was shared by Itosugi himself via a post on his X (formerly Twitter) account. In the post, he stated that his Google account was suddenly suspended when uploading old manga data to Google Drive. ‘When I uploaded old manga data to Drive, a warning appeared. My review request was also rejected, and my account was ultimately blocked,’ Itosugi wrote. Due to the suspension, Itosugi also lost access to other connected Google services, including Gmail, YouTube, and all his cloud storage. Notably, the block occurred without clear warning; the account was suspended shortly after files were detected. This situation forced Itosugi to lose his digital portfolio stored in the Google account. ‘This is extremely inconvenient. I use this Google account for various sites and services,’ he added. Through his post, Itosugi also warned other users to be cautious when storing files on any cloud service. The incident has reignited public scrutiny over Google’s AI-based automated moderation system for cloud services. In recent years, other users have reported similar issues, from sudden file deletions to automatic account blocks. For instance, in 2024, romance novelist K. Renee reportedly lost access to 10 unfinished novel drafts totaling around 220,000 words, which were abruptly deleted by Google Drive’s system. The reason for deletion was not clearly explained, with preliminary suspicions pointing to spam detection or automated moderation due to the files being shared with early readers and beta testers. Another controversial case occurred in 2022 when a father’s Google account was blocked after he sent medical photos of his toddler for a doctor’s check-up. Despite police confirming his innocence, Google reportedly refused to reinstate the account, as reported by KompasTekno citing Cybernews.