PewDiePie says YouTube contacted him over deleting his account

The YouTuber, who has the most-subscribed account on the channel, has informed fans that YouTube are looking into the issue

While the parallel universe of YouTubing might remain a mystery to most, followers of Vlogs tend to be fanatically and devoutly dedicated to their YouTuber deity. For this reason, a fair few of PewDiePie’s fans were catapulted into shock when he announced he was planning to delete his channel.

The Swedish social media star, whose real name is Felix Kjellberg, said he would delete his channel when he hit 50 million subscribers. This is likely to be pretty soon as he currently has 49.6m subscribers.

In a video posted on his account, PewDiePie, who has the most-subscribed account on YouTube, angrily claimed he had seen his video views decline and some videos were no longer appearing for subscribers. He suggested the site promoted clickbait and “recommended videos”.

“YouTube is trying to kill my channel. It is clear. It is happening if you watch my analytics. It is all going down,” the 27-year-old told viewers.

But PewDiePie has now informed fans that YouTube has replied to his video and are looking into it. “YouTube has responded and are digging into the issues,” he wrote on Twitter on Monday.

In his video, PewDiePie said the site had not been adequately explaining what was happening and other YouTubers had complained about similar issues.

All the same, YouTube told The Independent there were no decreases in creators subscriber numbers beyond what routinely happens.

“Some creators have expressed concerns around a drop in their subscriber numbers,” a spokesperson said in a statement. “We've done an extensive review and found there have been no decreases in creators subscriber numbers beyond what normally happens when viewers either unsubscribe from a creator's channel or when YouTube removes spammed subscribers. We do the latter to ensure that all creator subscriber numbers are accurate.”

Known for his expletive-ridden rants and over-the-top delivery, PewDiePie has racked up just over 13 billion video views. He launched his YouTube channel back in 2010 and has amassed a massive audience for his Vlogs and “Let’s Play” videos. Forbes named him the top-earning YouTube star on the planet after earning $12 million in 2015.