"My Vicarious Satisfaction Every Night Gone: Sudden Deletion of Past Videos... Mukbang YouTubers Hit by Crackdown"

YouTube Revamps Guidelines on Eating Disorder Risks
Retroactive Application Leads to Deletion of Past Videos, Impacting Major Channels

YouTubers devouring 20 kilograms of gopchang, 20 packs of instant noodles, or 240 pieces of sushi at once—these are just some examples of Korea's globally popular "mukbang" content that has now come under heavy regulation by YouTube.

A mukbang YouTuber is eating a pile of food. YouTube screenshot @ZOEY ASMR

Recently, YouTube has completely strengthened its guidelines on content that could cause eating disorders (mental illnesses such as anorexia, bulimia, or abnormal fear of weight gain) and binge eating, resulting in the sudden deletion even of previously uploaded videos.

Strengthened YouTube Guidelines: 'Risk of Imitation' as a Key Metric

The biggest feature of this policy change is that YouTube now prioritizes assessing the risk of viewers imitating content, rather than the creator's intent. In 2023, YouTube updated its guidelines regarding eating disorder content, focusing on restricting videos that glamorized or encouraged disordered eating directly.

Videos of the "10,000 to 20,000 Calorie Challenge" that are easy for teenagers to imitate. Screenshot from YouTube

That same September, YouTube further expanded these measures to cover ad policies, declaring that it would not pay advertising revenue to content instructing viewers on dangerous behaviors, such as laxative abuse. However, the criteria enforced by the current policy shift are far more stringent. Even if a creator does not directly promote disordered eating, content that poses a risk of imitation by viewers can now be subject to restrictions.

A YouTuber stacking and eating cup noodles. YouTube capture

Accordingly, YouTube has decided to completely limit monetization for videos depicting excessive binge eating or the act of stacking large amounts of food. This applies not only to newly uploaded videos, but also retroactively, as YouTube is reviewing all existing content from previous years, causing a major stir in the industry.

Even Daily Vlogs and Diet Content May Face Restriction

YouTube also plans to thoroughly review the entire context of each video, including the title, thumbnail, description, and tags. As a result, not only professional mukbang YouTubers but also ordinary people sharing daily vlogs can no longer feel at ease.

Common daily vlogs where people say, "I'm on a diet, but today is my cheat day so I'm binge eating," or featuring content such as the "10,000 Calorie Challenge," "Fasting for 24 Hours and Eating 10 Chickens," could all potentially be subject to regulation.

A YouTuber uploaded a vlog about how to maintain an extremely thin body shape. YouTube capture

In addition, extreme weight loss methods promoted with dangerous keywords like "Skeletal Diet" (pursuing a body so thin bones are visible) or "Rapid Gain, Rapid Loss" (quickly gaining and then swiftly losing weight) are now directly affected by YouTube's updated policies.

Major Channels Like Tzuyang and Heebab Also on Alert

The effects of these policies are already being seen among some YouTubers. "Salpaejo," a creator with 440,000 subscribers, had monetization suspended and stopped posting new videos. Another YouTuber, "Miso," had to proactively delete 339 past videos from the past four years to protect her channel from being penalized.

'A mukbang video of a woman eating 17 meters of gopchang alone.' YouTube capture

With the atmosphere of retroactively regulating past content, concerns are mounting that even major channels like Tzuyang, with 13.5 million subscribers, and Heebab, with 1.72 million subscribers, are not safe from restrictions.

Eating Disorders. Not directly related to the article. Getty Images

The mukbang industry, which has achieved tremendous global success and has itself become a prominent proper noun, now stands at a crossroads of significant change. Food service industry experts advise, "In order to avoid regulatory risks, it is time to move away from sensational content and pivot toward a focus on gourmet food and authentic communication."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.