Ownership verification and escrow handover for transferring YouTube channels and TikTok accounts
Creator accounts on video platforms are bought and sold privately, and most losses in these sales come from the order of events: money moves before control of the account does. This technical note describes the process used by SwapCreators (https://swapcreators.com), a marketplace for YouTube channels and TikTok accounts, to reduce those losses: Ownership verification: a public-code check that proves a seller controls a channel before it is listed. Escrow: a state machine in which the seller is paid only after the handover. Handover: two procedures, one built on Google Brand Account owner roles and one for TikTok accounts, which have no shared-ownership roles. Supporting controls: staff review of listings, screening of off-platform contact details in chats, and refunds returned to the paying account. It maps each control to the scams it addresses and sets out its limits, including the platforms' own terms of service. SwapCreators is independent and not affiliated with YouTube, Google, TikTok, or ByteDance.
Authors
- SwapCreators
Publication Details
- Journal
- Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)
- Published
- 2026-11-11
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.24124960
- Primary Topic
- Cybercrime and Law Enforcement Studies
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00