PewDiePie: YouTube could be 'killing' my channel because I'm white, so I'll delete it

Sign up to our free weekly IndyTech newsletter delivered straight to your inbox

Sign up to our free IndyTech newsletter

Please enter a valid email address

Please enter a valid email address

SIGN UP

I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice

Vlogger PewDiePie has suggested that YouTube is sabotaging his channel because he is white.

The Swedish YouTuber has said that he is going to delete his account because the video site has been penalising him and other YouTubers, who argue that the site has changed its algorithm so that fewer people see their videos. That has led to his popularity falling, he said in a video where he ranted against the site.

And the problem might be that he is white, he said in the same rant. Laying out the possible reasons that YouTube is supposedly looking to undermine him, he pointed to his race as well as the kinds of titles he uses on his videos.

“I’m white,” he said in the video. “Can I make that comment? But I do think that’s a problem.”

He made the suggestion after claiming that YouTube wanted to put someone else on the top of the site, “someone extremely cancerous”. That might be Lily Singh, a Canadian YouTuber with Indian heritage, he suggested.

PewDiePie is by most measures the most popular of all of the YouTube stars. But he says that he is being penalised and that popularity is on the wane.

He said that he would remove his account once he reached 50 million subscribers. At that point he would remove his channel – though it isn’t clear whether he would start a new one or leave the site entirely.

“YouTube is trying to kill my channel. It is clear. It is happening if you watch my analytics. It is all going down,” he said in the same video where he suggested that YouTube might be penalising him because of his race.

"I've decided the only way to stop my channel from dying - I know you are going to think I am joking - but I am going to delete my channel."

He said that other YouTubers had complained about the same thing and that the site wasn't explaining why it was happening.