Felix “PewDiePie” Kjellberg announced that he’s taking a break from YouTube starting next year in a video decrying the site’s new anti-harassment policy. The new rules, which put harsher restrictions on harassment and implied threats of violence, have been criticized using the #YouTubeIsOver hashtag, particularly by video creators who have a history of calling out other YouTube users in their videos.
It’s no surprise that PewDiePie takes a negative view of the new rules, given how often he’s been in the spotlight for creating controversial content. PewDiePie has a history of creating racist and anti-semitic content stretching back at least to 2016, including paying users on Fiverr to hold up a sign reading “Death to all Jews,” then featuring it on his channel. Earlier this year, PewDiePie pledged to donate $50,000 to the Anti-Defamation League, a non-profit devoted to countering anti-semitism, but retracted the offer when his fans complained. Hateful content is already banned by YouTube’s rules, and the new additions to its policies could make it easier for the site to remove videos that attack people for protected characteristics such as race or religion.
While most of PewDiePie’s recent video is aimed at criticizing YouTube’s new rules, he ends the video with the surprising announcement that he’s going on hiatus next year. After wrapping up his comments on YouTube’s new policies, he says “now is a great time as any to announce … I am taking a break from YouTube.” PewDiePie says that he’ll explain more about his decision later, for now saying only, “I’m feeling very tired.” Currently, PewDiePie releases videos daily, and he was recently named the most watched content creator on YouTube in 2019.
Before announcing his break from YouTube, PewDiePie devotes most of his video to airing his criticisms of the site’s new policy that strengthens its stance against harassment and bans veiled threats of violence. Saying he doubts that creators actually called for changes, as YouTube claims, PewDiePie goes on to say that it’s not the policy that matters, but how the site enforces it. According to PewDiePie, going after content creators who attack other YouTube users will actually be worse in the long run, because in his view, censure from other YouTubers is what keeps users’ worst impulses in check.
PewDiePie’s break from YouTube should help him avoid the burnout that constant content creation can lead to, but it’s unlikely to make any lasting changes in his content. PewDiePie has taken breaks from the platform before and returned to make videos just as controversial as before. Even his outrage over YouTube’s new policies isn’t likely to amount to much, given how little the site currently does to curtail abusive creators.
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Source: PewDiePie/YouTube
