PewDiePie backs YouTube’s updated policy on offensive Super Chats
YouTube’s new policy on offensive Super Chats has seen plenty of outrage – but the most subscribed creator on the platform doesn’t find an issue with the development.
YouTube king Felix ‘PewDiePie’ Kjellberg addressed YouTube’s updated Super Chat policy in a ‘Pew News’ video on November 8, where he discussed the issue in relation to a Wall Street Journal article on the subject.
- Read More: Popular YouTube host accuses Wall Street Journal of canceling over $26,000 in donation funds
According to PewDiePie, it wouldn’t make sense for YouTube to take their usual 30% cut from offensive Super Chats, claiming that it would tarnish the platform’s image to take money from hateful comments.
“It’s their service,” PewDiePie said of the issue. “If they get caught taking money from these types of messages, it doesn’t look good for YouTube. In a way, I feel like this is a valid response.”
PewDiePie also mused that offensive Super Chats might act as a kind of game, where audiences try to undermine the automated system set in place specifically to prevent hate speech.
“Somehow they slip through,” he continued. “That’s part of the game with these donations, is, ‘What kind of message can we put in there that passes the system?’”
To surmise YouTube’s new policy on the issue, the platform no longer splits donations from offensive Super Chats with the creator in question; now, YouTube donates the entire amount to a charity of their choosing.
This policy became an issue when an article from the Wall Street Journal targeted several controversial livestreams on the site, one of which was the Ralph Retort Killstream. According to the show’s host, Nick Monroe, the WSJ pressured YouTube to cancel over $26,000 in donations, which were set to benefit St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital.