YouTube ad restrictions put Korean 'mukbang' creators on alert
"Mukbang" (eating broadcast) YouTuber Tzuyang / Screen captured from Tzuyang's YouTube channel
YouTube’s tighter enforcement of its policies on eating disorder-related content is affecting Korean food and diet creators, with some losing advertising revenue or deleting hundreds of old videos.
Tzuyang, one of Korea’s best-known "mukbang" creators, also weighed in on the issue in a video uploaded Sunday. Mukbang, which translates to eating broadcast, refers to content showing people eating large quantities of food.
“I heard eating a lot isn’t the trend these days,” she said while vising Sinpo Market in Incheon. “I’ll try to be a YouTuber who eats a reasonable amount from now on.”
She nevertheless went on to eat fried chicken, spicy rice cakes, Korean blood sausage, donuts and several other dishes in her usual mukbang style. Tzuyang has about 13.5 million subscribers on YouTube.
Other creators have already faced restrictions.
DietJo, a food and diet YouTuber with about 440,000 subscribers, said her channel had been demonetized as YouTube applies stricter guidelines to videos involving binge eating and eating disorder-related content.
She said she had also stopped uploading new videos because she did not know which content could trigger further penalties.
Diet YouTuber Miso said she deleted 339 of the 667 videos on her channel after being notified of guideline violations and having monetization temporarily suspended. She said some of her older videos included specific figures on her weight and diet as well as details of her weight-loss routines that could be considered risky for vulnerable viewers to imitate.
Under YouTube’s advertiser-friendly content guidelines, videos that promote or show signs of encouraging eating disorders or potentially imitable behavior can be ineligible for advertising revenue. Examples included binge eating, hiding or hoarding food, misuse of laxatives and extreme calorie restriction. YouTube also considers titles, thumbnails, descriptions and tags when assessing content.
The policy does not amount to a blanket ban on mukbang content. There is no indication that major creators such as Tzuyang or Heebab have been directly penalized simply for eating large quantities of food.