Felix Kjellberg, famously known on YouTube as PewDiePie, announced in a recent video that he’s planning to take a break from uploading content on the platform in 2020. The announcement was made following after the content creator’s denouncement of YouTube’s new anti-harassment policy in the same video.
The policy, which recently came into effect on the platform, prohibits “harassment that suggests violence” and “content that maliciously insults someone based on protected attributes.” Content uploaded on YouTube that goes against the policy guidelines will be taken down. Kjellberg previously sparked controversies due to some of his videos containing anti-semitic and racially sensitive content, which the YouTuber claimed was done with the intention of humour.
Kjellberg hinted that his temporary departure from YouTube was due to burnout, where he also expressed that he was “feeling very tired” in the same video. Back in August of this year, he also mentioned plans of actually taking a break from the platform in a separate video. “I do think it would be good for me to take a break at some point,” he said at the time “It would be nice to not have YouTube in my brain for the first time in 10 years.”
Despite the controversies surrounding the YouTube celebrity, Kjellberg recently topped a list of the 100 most influential people in digital media this year. It’s most likely that the cause of the content creator’s burnout is the constant pressure of having to continuously deliver videos in order to keep up with the expectations from fans or sponsors.
[ Source: PewDiePie (YouTube) // Top image: PewDiePie (Instagram) ]
