Accounts flagged for policy violations, however, have the option to have that action reviewed the next time they log in. in this case, users are still in control of their account identity.
kim says anyone in this situation should first review google’s policies to make sure they understand why their account was disabled before clicking. in some cases, the next login attempt will show details of why the account was disabled, such as suspected phishing. “However, there are some circumstances where we are unable to provide additional details due to security concerns,” says Kim.
When appealing this decision, “users can provide additional context to help our reviewers decide whether to restore access to their account,” Kim says.
This review process can take about two days.
The short answer in most cases is no. you probably won’t get a person to phone through some kind of google hotline. but there are cases where some users may be able to get additional help depending on the nature of the account. Kim says that those who have a Google account through their work, school, or other group are encouraged to contact their administrator, who can manage users through their Admin console. if your admin is stumped, you also have your own support options.
Other Google users, like people in the YouTube Partner Program or Google Fi or Google One subscribers, may have dedicated support teams to help them with those products. They may be able to offer guidance or provide general help, but Kim says you shouldn’t expect them to have a magic wand to reset your account. “For security reasons, these agents cannot restore account access,” says Kim.
Kim says that different kinds of signals and patterns can influence the decision to disable or flag an account, which isn’t very clear, but it also shows how extensively the company scrutinizes potentially harmful activity. Some of those patterns include signing in to a new computer or phone for the first time, changing passwords, or other events that users can also review on their account security page.
Alerts sent in these cases allow the account owner to first check if something suspicious is going on “and if our detection logic hasn’t caught it yet,” Kim says.
When the behavior points more towards account hijacking or something nefarious, Google may force the account holder to go through the account recovery tool to verify their identity and change their password.
kim says: “the idea is to allow the real user to go back to their google account while blocking the hijacker.”
Of course, all of this only works if you’ve set up the proper measures before your account gets hacked. if you’ve already lost it, there may be cases where if you don’t have advanced security measures already set up, like using your phone as a two-factor sign-in tool or keeping your recovery phone numbers up to date, there may be no way To get it back, Kim suggests “an ounce of prevention” measures here, such as taking the time to review Google’s security checkup tool in the first place before anything bad happens to your account.
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