Golden age of YouTube replaced by darkness: YouTuber Joey Graceffa
The popular video-maker says cancel culture is ruining the experience on the video-sharing platform.
YouTube’s golden age is over and has been replaced by a dark place, popular YouTuber Joey Graceffa has claimed.
He blamed increased anger and fear in the world for the shift.
The 27-year-old, who has almost nine million subscribers on his main channel on the video-sharing website, believes the algorithm on YouTube favours “negative energy”, with people focusing on cancel culture, where controversial comments or activities from a person’s past are dug up.
“The direction it’s in right now, I don’t personally agree with the types of videos and content that does well,” Mr Graceffa explained.
“I definitely think there was a golden age of YouTube but currently now it’s a bit of the dark times, and hopefully we’ll get out of that soon.”
The video-maker said he feels as though people want to see others fail, turning the platform into a “very scary and dark place”.
He also argued that there is not enough support for popular YouTubers to deal with the pressures of online fame.
“People will literally be targeted and get non-stop harassment and I honestly don’t think there’s anything anyone can do,” he explained.
“It’s just a mob mentality that people fall into, where if someone has a narrative of someone and people want to believe that narrative, there’s no talking sense into anyone – there’s no getting anything across, people have what they have in their minds and all it takes, I guess, is time for that to go away.”
Big companies have made it harder for individuals to compete, Mr Graceffa continued, because they have big budgets for higher production values.
Responding to the concerns raised, a YouTube spokeswoman commented: “We always appreciate feedback from the YouTube community and are committed to supporting our creators and helping the platform thrive.”
Despite the issues, the American YouTuber, who will appear at the first UK VidCon conference for video-makers next week, still finds the site fun and has no intention of retiring.
“If I go a week without posting – which is very rare – I always deeply miss YouTube and the connection that I have with my audience,” he said.
