Posted in: Games | Tagged: anti-semitism, disney, felix kjellberg, Maker Studios, pewdiepie, reality show, reality star, youtube

YouTube Strikes Back: Removes PewDiePie From Ad Program And Cancels Show

Published Tue, 14 Feb 2017 09:58:56 -0600

by Gavin Sheehan

Last updated Tue, 14 Feb 2017 20:42:48 -0600

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The corporate backlash against PewDiePie keeps growing today as the entertainer has now received punishment from YouTube, the very website he makes a living from. Earlier today we reported that Disney-owned Maker Studios severed ties with Felix Kjellberg after anti-Semitic videos on his channel caused a great deal of controversy. Now YouTube, the distributor of his content, has removed him from their premium advertising program and canceled the second season of his reality show on YouTube Red.

So what does this basically mean for the YouTube star? For starters, his income is going to be seeing a huge dent as he won't be prominently featured on the website as a recommendation beyond his subscriber base, as well as not receiving as much money for his videos as say a regular gamer/entertainer who doesn't have direct ties to YouTube to help monetize their content. He's also not a part of Google Preferred, but honestly, who is really using Google Preferred? His channel won't be going away, at least for the moment, and unless YouTube decides to take actions against any individual videos, his content library will probably remain intact. Then again, YouTube has rarely been put in this kind of position, let alone one with a self-made celebrity, so everything we're seeing is new territory.

The biggest question moving forward is what Kjellberg will have to say on the matter beyond his Tumblr page. If history is any example, we're probably due for a video response sometime in the next 24 hours. Kjellberg has recorded and posted almost 30-minute videos about YouTube policies every time something is changed or altered without prior warning. He's grown to become one of the website's biggest critics, all while doing it on their own service.

We'll keep you posted as this story continues to develop.

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