I’m posting this because I’m genuinely trying to understand the process, and I’m hoping someone from OpenAI might be able to clarify it.
I’ve been a ChatGPT user for around four years. My account contained hundreds of conversations, long-term personal and professional projects, and it was also the owner account of our ChatGPT Business workspace used by my colleagues.
One day I searched for “movie Peter Scully” because I wanted to understand the legal background of a widely reported criminal case.
ChatGPT immediately refused to answer and displayed a safety message saying it couldn’t assist with that request.
I accepted that and moved on.
The following day, my account was permanently deactivated.
The stated reason was “Child Sexualization Activity.”
That was deeply shocking to read because it simply doesn’t reflect what I was trying to do.
I immediately submitted an appeal.
Within just a few minutes, the appeal was rejected. At that point I didn’t realise this would likely be my only opportunity to explain the context in detail, so my appeal was relatively brief.
The rejection email then stated:
“We will no longer consider additional requests to appeal this case.”
Because of that, I contacted OpenAI Support.
Support repeatedly advised me to submit another appeal using the appeal link in the deactivation email.
The problem is that the appeal decision had already told me that no further appeals would be considered, so I genuinely don’t understand how I was supposed to follow that advice.
I’m not asking anyone to ignore OpenAI’s safety policies. I fully support strict enforcement against child exploitation.
What I’m struggling with is the process.
If ChatGPT already blocked my search, why was my account permanently deactivated anyway?
If my intent was misunderstood, why wasn’t I given a meaningful opportunity to explain the context before receiving one of the most serious policy labels possible?
And if the appeal process was already closed, why was Support directing me back to a process that was no longer available?
Losing four years of work, hundreds of conversations, and ownership of a Business workspace without any practical explanation has been incredibly difficult.
I’m genuinely asking:
Has anyone experienced something similar?
Has anyone ever been able to have a case like this reviewed by a human after an appeal was closed?