After 8 years of unknowingly paying for ex's YouTube Premium, he finally cut her off — then reversed it the moment she sent one photo
Since 2018, Katerina had been using his YouTube Premium subscription for free. This time, however, she had to use a devious strategy to get it back
When a man and woman are in a relationship, they willingly open up their boundaries and share intimate details. Breakups often leave them with a piece of each other’s past that only they know. A woman named Katerina Leva (@kataaleva) had been using her ex-boyfriend’s YouTube Premium subscription for the past eight years. In a June 16, 2026, Instagram video, which has been viewed over 4 million times, she revealed that he had suddenly removed her from the subscription. However, refusing to let it slide, she adopted a 'hilariously devious' tactic to compel him to put her back on it. Leva even used an intimate detail to blackmail him.
Access revoked
When Leva realized she could no longer access YouTube Premium, she texted her ex. The conversation started with her asking him why he removed her from the subscription plan. Instead of answering it, he sarcastically asked how her life had been for the past eight years of no contact. “It was great before you removed me from YouTube Premium,” Leva said. The man then refused to put her back on the subscription. In fact, he blew up and said she should be thankful that he had been paying for her YouTube for the past eight years without asking anything in return.
The ultimate threat
Leva again requested the man to add her back, but he refused. At last, she tried to manipulate him by saying that he removed her because he wanted to add a new woman to the subscription plan. Leva also shared the woman's picture, which left the ex-boyfriend baffled. Almost pervasively, she then threatened him by saying she would tell the new woman that the two of them had hung out and that he was not as physically attractive as she thought him to be. The man was forced to put Leva back on his YouTube Premium subscription. He asked Leva never to text him, and in turn, she asked him not to remove her from the account.
Coercive control
Although Leva shared the incident from a lighthearted perspective, such cases often constitute coercive control or blackmail. A study (by Nicola Henry and Rebecca Umbach) documented a survey of 16,693 people and found that one in seven (14.5%) adults reported being a victim of sextortion, and 4.8% admitted to being a perpetrator. As part of the sextortion scam, the victims are usually threatened with intimate images, sexual or private information, and are forced to surrender to the perpetrator's demands.
'After God, fear women'
Meanwhile, people’s comments indicate that this subscription-sharing scenario is not uncommon among couples. In response to Leva’s video, @zessirvent exclaimed, “You remind me of the ex who asked me, ‘You changed the Netflix password?’” @gypsygargoyle quipped, “That is way too much extortion for YouTube Premium.” Similarly, @mast3rblack wrote a joking remark, “After god, fear women!”
You can follow Katerina Leva (@kataaleva) for film and lifestyle content.
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