On October 26, Felix ‘PewDiePie’ Kjellberg responded to a glitch that omitted his YouTube channel from searches a few days before. The bug sparked widespread speculation that he had been “shadowbanned” by Google.
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The YouTube community was rocked on October 19 when rumors began to spread that the platform’s largest content creator, PewDiePie, had been shadowbanned. However, it was quickly clarified to be a bug and his account was fixed.
The Swede addressed the drama in his first video back since the glitch. While the star believed that people were too quick to jump to conclusions about him being banned, he did have questions for Google as to why his channel was the only one affected.
PewDiePie responds to YouTube after “shadowban” glitch
Fans of the personality became concerned on October 19 when his channel disappeared from searches on YouTube. His latest video tanked in views as no one could see it without a direct link. Google then released a statement and said it was an error before fixing his channel hours later.
Responding to the incident, Pewds revealed that he didn’t think he was shadowbanned as his account had been having issues for days. “People started noticing my video wasn’t getting any views. And it just went everywhere. There was a bunch of news for it!” he said, before he joked, “Shadow ban! They creep from the shadows and they ban you!”
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Despite not being overly concerned, Kjellberg did find it peculiar that it mainly impacted his channel and nobody else’s. “I didn’t think they shadowbanned me, I just assumed it was a glitch. But it begs the question, how does that happen? How did it happen? It didn’t happen to anyone else. I asked around.”
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The popular entertainer later joked about YouTube trying to explain the glitch, after reacting to a fan submission on Reddit. “We shadowbanned our biggest creator! Yeah, yeah it was weird. It was weird, what in the world,” he said.
To add salt to the wound, Pewds celebrated his birthday on October 24, but instead of well wishes from fans, his subreddit was flooded with users concerned that he had been shadowbanned by Google. It should also be stated there is no confirmation that the company even does bans in this manner.
At the time of writing, the star’s account is back to normal, and his uploads are getting millions of views again. If nothing else, the incident shows just how many people love the 31-year-old entertainer. Viewers were quick to rally together for the content creator – further proof that Kjellberg is the king of the platform.