By this point in time we all know who PewDiePie, otherwise known as Felix Kjellberg, is. As the first YouTuber to hit 100 million subscribers on the platform, he’s behind a juggernaut of video content with each upload hitting millions of views, and earning him untold amounts in ad revenue.
At the end of a recent video criticising YouTube for implementing updates to its harassment policy, Kjellberg announced that he will be taking a break from the platform in 2020, stating that he’ll “be away for a little while” early next year.
The video itself mainly concerns itself with criticising YouTube over its updates to the harassment policy, with special attention paid to a video removed due to its thumbnail image. The image in question showed a gun being aimed at YouTuber h3h3, which was presumably removed due to the policy’s new focus on removing content that contains “veiled or implied threats”. Kjellberg, in the 12-minute rant, complained about a perceived inability to determine intent at YouTube. “No one thinks he’s going to shoot h3h3 just because he holds up a gun. No one is fearing for his safety,” he said. “Why is there no distinction between intent and actual action?”
Kjellberg, of course, has a chequered history with the platform, with many incidents incurred during his own streams and videos. In the past, Kjellberg received criticism over usage of a racial slur during a livestream, received a DMCA from Firewatch developers Campo Santo, nearly said another racial slur during another livestream, attracted criticism over UK right-wing party UKIP’s statement of support, and of course, lost a Disney contract after an anti-semitic stunt.
Currently it is not known how long or in what form Kjellberg’s break from the video platform will take.
