Google is now terminating the subscriptions of users who purchased their “YouTube Premium” membership at a lower price via a VPN from another country. Users are receiving cancellation emails and are asked to register again properly within the next few days.
The message states: “Your YouTube Premium membership has been terminated because we believe you did not specify your actual country of residence when signing up with (…). If you want to remain a member, you must sign up for YouTube Premium again within the next few weeks. Otherwise, you will only be able to access the benefits of YouTube Premium until (date). After that date, your membership will not automatically renew.”
The subscription price for YouTube Premium in Germany has increased by one euro and is now quite expensive at 12.99 euros. Users could save up to 90 percent of the price by taking out a membership in another country with the help of a VPN. The service was cheaper in countries such as Ghana, Pakistan, Nigeria, Argentina, Brazil, Ukraine, and Turkey.
Some users report that it is still possible to re-subscribe using a VPN in another country, but for others it no longer works. However, it is still unclear how rigorously YouTube will take action against this trick. If you re-subscribe using a VPN, you could risk Google blocking your account completely. So you should be careful here.
Alternatively, YouTube Premium Lite is a cheaper option, which costs 5.99 euros. However, this cheap subscription is not available to everyone, as YouTube Premium Lite is only offered as a test run in this country and is therefore not available to every user.
