A 93-year-old retired University of Toronto professor had her YouTube channel cancelled after it was alleged she was broadcasting pornography. Her interviews on climate change and disarmament were also lost in the snafu, the result of a hacking attack.Metta Spencer, 93, a retired University of Toronto professor, sits in front of her computer screen, which displays a notice from YouTube indicating her account no longer exists. The problem, which began on Oct.
, was reinstated on Monday after calls were made to YouTube's parent company, Google, by CBC Toronto. But Carmi Levy, a tech expert based in London, Ont., said Spencer's frustration trying to make contact with a helpful human is common among social media platform users who find themselves suddenly suspended or cancelled.
Spencer eventually managed to eject the troublemaker and carry on with the meeting, she said, but later that day, when she tried to upload the video of the forum to herA notice simply said, "This page isn't available." Spencer said her taped forums are stored on her hard drive, but she lamented the fact that for weeks, they couldn't be accessed by the public on her YouTube channel.
David Price, a retired research scientist in Salmon Arm, B.C., who subscribes to Spencer's YouTube channel, says the loss of her forums would be a blow to the public.