We all know how quickly a prank video can go wrong. During the golden age of YouTube pranks, the name VitalyzdTv was infamous for being a general nuisance at best and a danger to the public at worst. Fast forward to the present day and it seems he hasn’t changed much, although his online antics have landed him in some seriously hot water this time.

Vitaly Zdorovetskiy recently visited the Philippines where he live streamed himself harassing of the public and security guards in Bonifacio Global City (BGC). Interior Secretary Jonvic Remulla gave a run down of Zdorovetskiy’s inappropriate behavior after he was detained at the Camp Bagong Diwa facility in Bicutan.

 “Vitaly engaged in multiple disruptive and inappropriate acts, including attempting to kiss and grab him, trying to seize his service firearm, taking pictures of him without consent, mocking other security guards, and vlogging without a permit in BGC.”

In most countries the worst someone would get for such behavior would probably be a slap on the wrist, but it seems the Filipino government is seeking to make an example out of Vitaly to prevent other “nuisance streamers” from getting the same idea.

The president of the Philippines speaks out

Zdorovetskiy’s actions were deemed so disruptive that even the country’s president has commented on the situation. President Ferdinand ‘Bongbong’ Marcos Jr. reviewed clips of Vitaly’s antics on his own YouTube channel in a bizarre reaction-style blog. Marcos remarks, “he is crazy. He isn’t Filipino; can I curse at him?”

He went on to say that they would stand up to “foreigner bullies” who “think they can humiliate Filipinos” before vowing to make an example out of Vitaly.

“We must fight the bullies. The government is with you to put these people in place. I hope this will serve as a lesson to those who try to enter the Philippines to humiliate and make fun of our countrymen.”

What will happen to Vitaly?

This is very bad news for Vitaly who is awaiting trial in a prison far away from home. YouTuber, Atozy claims that the prankster could be facing up to 24 years behind bars for his actions. The Philippines is pretty harsh when it comes to sentencing, for example, you can be imprisoned for up to 30 days just for annoying somebody, it’s called the “unjust vexation law” and Vitaly evidently annoyed a lot of people. However 24 years seems like an incredibly exaggerated estimate.

Others have suggested he might be waiting in prison for his trial to begin for 2-3 years! If he really does end up with the worst case scenario then we might not see Vitaly return from his trip to the Philippines for 27 years!

Influencers are not above doing some pretty crazy and stupid things for attention online, but one individual has possibly taken the cake for the craziest, stupidest thing a person can do by taking a boat out to North Sentinel Island, the home to one of the most notorious uned tribes in the world.

Influencer Mykhailo Viktorovych Polyakov, 24, allegedly took a kayak out to the island presumably to make some viral content. When arrested the BBC reports that he told authorities he was a “thrill seeker” as if that excuses his poor decision.

Polyakov’s visit to the island

Police chief HGS Dhaliwal told local news agency AFP Mr. Polyakov spent about an hour just off the coast of North Sentinel Island, blowing a whistle to try and get the attention of the tribe. He landed on shore for about five minutes to leave a can of Coke and a coconut before taking some samples and recording a video.

Reports have also linked Polyakov to a YouTube which features videos of his travels. One recent apparently documents his trip to Afghanistan.

Who are the Sentinelese?

For those unaware, the Sentinelese are an uned tribe who reside on one of the Andaman and Nicobar islands in the Indian Ocean. It is illegal for foreigners to even travel within five kilometers (3 miles) of the island’s shore. The tribe have made it very clear that they do not want any interaction with the outside world and they can be pretty hostile — people who visit the island risk losing their lives. In 2018, a 27-year-old missionary was killed by the tribe after travelling to the island.

However, the main reason travelling to the island is illegal is because the tribe does not have any immunity to outside diseases. This means even a common cold could potentially be devastating for them. It’s estimated that around 200 people belong to the Sentinelese tribe, Polyakov could have risked wiping all of them out with his little stunt.

Influencers are a big threat to the Sentinelese

Survival International called Mr. Polyakov’s actions “reckless and stupid,” going on to say that it was “deeply disturbing” that he was able to even get to the island. Jonathan Mazower, a spokesperson for the organization, claimed “there are now an increasing number of… influencers who are trying to do this kind of thing for followers,” he told the BBC that “There’s a growing social media fascination with this whole idea.”

Uned tribes face numerous threats from human activities such as logging and mining in the Amazon (where many other such tribes live) so it’s important to respect their territories and not interfere with their way of life.

The sequel to the explosive 2019 Michael Jackson documentary Leaving Neverland is set to release on YouTube after the original landed HBO is legal troubles. In the two-part original, Wade Robson, 42, and James Safechuck, 46, alleged they were sexually abused by the “Thriller” singer, starting from when they were seven and ten, respectively, and extending to when they were both 14.

The HBO documentary negatively affected Jackson’s public image in the immediate aftermath, with some radios removing his music from playlists and The Simpsons pulling his episode from circulation. In the long run, however, the popularity of his music and name was not impacted — at least not to the extent of what has happened to the reputations of artists like R. Kelly and Diddy. This could be one of the reasons director Dan Reed couldn’t find a more profitable home for his sequel.

The new documentary will follow Robson and Safechuck in their journey to seek legal action against the Jackson estate. According to Deadline, “the hour-long film will detail the personal toll of going public with their accusations and the backlash from Jackson’s global army of fans.” The two men were especially scrutinized at the time for having denied any abuse while Jackson was still alive. In the documentary, they explain that the birth of their children motivated them to finally come out with the truth.

Robson and Safechuck first sued MJJ Productions and MJJ Ventures, Jackson’s production companies, in 2013 and 2014, respectively, for failing to protect them against the abuse, but combined their cases in 2024. The most recent update on their case came in August of last year when a judge denied the men access to Jackson’s criminal file from when he was accused of child molestation in the early 1990s, citing “procedural problems.”

Before that, in 2023, a California appeals court ruled that their lawsuits could move forward to trial after they had been dismissed in 2020 and 2021. Back then, a Los Angeles judge argued the companies had “no legal ability” to control the singer because he was their sole owner. But the appeals court disagreed, stating, “A corporation that facilitates the sexual abuse of children by one of its employees is not excused from an affirmative duty to protect those children merely because it is solely owned by the perpetrator of the abuse,” and adding, “It would be perverse to find no duty based on the corporate defendant having only one shareholder. And so we reverse the judgments entered for the corporations.”

No trial date has been set for the case as yet, but the new documentary could put pressure on the justice system. Though YouTube does not have the prestige of HBO, it could result in the new film reaching wider audiences, since it will be available for free on the platform’s Real Stories channel from the Little Dot Studios Network.

The former took over distribution from HBO after the first documentary landed the legacy network in hot water with the Jackson Estate. According to Deadline, “U.S. courts ruled that Leaving Neverland constituted a breach of a non-disparagement clause in a 1992 contract for an HBO concert special on Jackson’s ‘Dangerous’ tour.”

Leaving Neverland 2: Surviving Michael Jackson is expected to land on YouTube for American and Canadian audiences shortly after it first airs on Britain’s Channel 4 on Mar. 18.

Fans of the Twitch star, Kai Cenat, will no doubt recognise one of the streamer’s best friends, Ray, AKA “rayasianboy” who frequently appeared on camera with Cenat, and quickly endeared himself to fans. However, the 19 year old has been noticeably absent from streams the last few months, and for an understandable reason.

Last year Cenat and Ray streamed together for what many thought could be the last time. Shortly afterwards he disappeared for a while, and some fans even believed that he had died.

What happened to Ray?

Ray had actually revealed earlier in the year that he would be returning to Taiwan in order to complete his military service. Both Cenat and Ray had been aware of this for a while, as the duo even discussed the prospect of Ray’s mandatory service with guests Druski and Kevin Hart in June. Cenat asks his friend to show how he would hold a gun, and Ray mimes holding a gun and throwing a grenade, prompting Hart to joke, “oh you’re going to die.”

Ray and Kai Cenat have been a fan favorite duo for a long time

The pair’s legendary friendship began when Cenat took a trip to Japan, where he met Ray by chance. Back then Ray was simply a fan of the streamer, but the two got on like a house on fire, prompting Cenat to fly his new friend back to the AMP house in Atlanta, where Ray would stay for a couple of weeks.

From there the two continued to make content together, with Ray fitting in perfectly with the kind of chaotic content Cenat was known for. Of course, they had their ups and downs, and it wouldn’t be uncommon for them to get into minor arguments on stream, but they were clearly very close friends. Fans loved the dynamic between the two, with commenters on YouTube comparing them to bickering siblings. Ray even began streaming himself under the name “rayasianboy.”

What’s going on with Ray’s military service?

Ray revealed to Cenat in May that he would have to return to his country in order to complete a year-long mandatory conscription that all Taiwanese citizens have to fulfill. On August 25th, Cenat recorded a Snapchat of him saying goodbye to his friend prior to his departure from the U.S.

Kai Cenat says goodbye to Ray as he leaves for Taiwan to finish the military pic.twitter.com/RSbYH5QWth

— FearBuck (@FearedBuck) August 25, 2024

Fans wished the young streamer luck, while others simply said that they would miss seeing Ray in the streams.

A mere five days later, Cenat updated fans and claimed that Ray in fact did not return to fulfil his military service, but rather he was simply going to see his family for a few weeks. Since then it seems like Ray has been back and forth between the U.S. and Taiwan. He and Cenat have reunited more than once, with Ray returning for a stream in November last year and again in December.

The law in Taiwan states that men between the age of 18-36 with a Taiwanese citizenship are expected to complete a compulsory military service. Perhaps Ray was able to arrange doing it when he’s older, or maybe he’s managed to find a loophole to avoid it entirely.

A controversial episode of the comedy show India’s Got Latent has been removed from YouTube by government order following what the ministry called “obscene” jokes made by content creator Ranveer Allahbaida (also known as “Beer Biceps”).

Kanchan Gupta, the senior advisor at India’s Ministry of Information and Broadcasting confirmed as much in an X post, writing “The India Has Latent episode on @YouTube with obscene and perverse comments by Ranveer Allahbadia has been blocked following Government of India orders.” A black screen will show with the error message “video unavailable” if you try to watch it now.

A sexual joke caused the deletion

Allahbadia was featured on bonus episode 6 of India’s Got Latent, and a clip of a “would you rather” question he asked went viral soon after. He asked a contestant a distasteful but common question in this style of game, “Would you rather watch your parents have sex every day or them once to finish it once and for all?”

According to Times of India, the remark caused nationwide debate, with people outraged by what he said. The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) also stepped in, urging YouTube to remove the video. ANI also reported that Priyank Kanoongo of the NHRC wrote to the platform’s head of public policy, Mira Chatt, asking that YouTube take “urgent action.” A report regarding the clip was also allegedly filed with the relevant police authorities.

YouTuber Ranveer Allahbadia controversy | NHRC member Priyank Kanoongo writes to Mira Chatt, Head Public Policy, YouTube, directing "to take urgent action to remove the concerned episode/videos from YouTube. Prior to the removal of such content, you are also required to submit… pic.twitter.com/fxZbHzPo7i

— ANI (@ANI) February 10, 2025

Since then, all videos of the show have been banished from the channel. The Indian government has a low tolerance for what is considered vulgar, evidenced by the swift action taken. The incident has sparked debate about whether comedy culture has gone awry, or whether the government is going too far in its efforts to minimize content that may be perceived as obscene.

In a 2020 article, titled Obscenity or Absurdity: The Unclear Laws in India, published in the Haryana Police Journal, Aashia Jindal and Sanket Gupta write, “The Constitution of India has, on one hand, provided the freedom of speech and expression to its citizens while at the same time, IPC and other statues discussed within the article have curtailed this freedom by penalizing those expressions which come within the ambits of the term ‘Obscene.’”

What happened next?

I shouldn’t have said what I said on India’s got latent. I’m sorry. pic.twitter.com/BaLEx5J0kd

— Ranveer Allahbadia (@BeerBicepsGuy) February 10, 2025

It’s unclear if the video was removed by YouTube or the ’s , but the takedown is more symbolic than meaningful at this point, as the clip has already been shared on the internet beyond the point of attempted censorship. Likely under pressure to do so, Allahbadi apologized in a video on X.

He itted that comedy is his not forte, saying, “My comment wasn’t appropriate. It wasn’t even funny.” He added, “Many of you asked if this is how I wished to use my platform and obviously this is not how I wish to use it. I am not going to give any context, justification, or reason.”

“I personally had a lapse in judgment. It wasn’t cool on my part. The podcast was watched by people
of all ages. Don’t want to be the kind of person that takes responsibility lightly and family is the last
thing I would ever disrespect.”

He also said, “Need to use this platform better. That’s been my learning from this whole
experience. I promise to just get better. Have asked the makers of the video to remove the insensitive sections from the video.”

Who is Ranveer Allahbadia?

Allahbadia is a popular podcaster (he claims to have India’s number one top-ranked podcast) and YouTuber who covers several topics including wellness, self-development, and lifestyle. He commonly appears on similar shows, too.

“India has close to a billion internet s. Pretty sure my pretty face has reached most of them. 9+ years in content. 850+ podcasts. 31+ years of [tomfoolery],” reads his X bio. He’s not known for comedy content, saying himself it’s not his “forte.” Something tells us he’ll be staying clear of it in the future, too.

It seems like every other week there’s another headline about yet another company, social media site, or platform that Elon Musk has allegedly bought. As the wealthiest individual in the world, making all these purchases isn’t outside his means. And while Musk has eyed a few companies over the years, is YouTube also in the tech mogul’s peripheral vision">his recent inauguration salute “slip up,” he’s the last person that a platform like YouTube should want to be d with. 

Dream used to be one of the most popular and beloved Minecraft YouTubers in the gaming community – the key phrase there is “used to be,” nowadays his reputation is at an all time low. After involving himself in a number of controversies and dramas over the years it’s safe to say that fans don’t quite view the YouTuber in the same light anymore and the latest Dream crashout has only put another nail in his coffin.

The Dream situation kicked off earlier this month after one of his former collaborators, TommyInnit called out streamer XQc (who has his own fair share of controversies), accusing him of being cringe. In a response, XQc mentioned Dream which prompted the Minecraft YouTuber to respond to Tommy.

Dream and Tommy are former friends and collaborators, but the pair had a falling out a while ago although the exact details are still up for debate as to why they fell out but regardless, there’s a bit of bad blood between Dream. His now-deleted response featured a meme which used the R slur to make fun of Tommy.

What is the R slur?

The meme posted by dream is a common template used online, usually the text is changed to fit the situation, it features a character stood at a crossroads, usually with one of the paths being seen as the more desirable, or normal path, while the other one is considered to be more outlandish and sometimes offensive. In this case the meme featured “DreamSMP stans” stood at the crossroads, with one path labeled “growing up,” while the other read, “Becoming a r*****ed TommyInnit fan.” The R slur in this case is the derogatory term “retard”, often cruelly directed at individuals with learning disabilities.

Obviously Dream’s Tommyinnit post saw the YouTuber receive backlash with other YouTube personalities and even former fans who called him out. Dream took down the meme and addressed his offensive tweet in a follow-up tweet. Meanwhile, Tommy responded with another post claiming all he had to do “was get Trump involved and he finally cracked.”

Tubbo, another creator from the DreamSMP, got involved giving his own “unbiased” side of the story. In his stream he mentions the former grooming allegations made against Dream as well as mentioning Dream’s autism diagnosis. 

What did Dream do to Tommy?

On January 11th we got a three-hour Dream livestream in which he addressed the drama in more depth. He responded to Tommy’s Trump tweet, asking him how he could say something like that about “someone you even at one point ever looked at as a friend.” He also addressed the fact that he sent a DM to Tommy’s mom, claiming he sent a singular message explaining to his mother why Dream and his fans were upset with Tommy.

Tommy’s mom had addressed the drama on X at the time, calling Dream an “ableist p***k” for using the R slur.

On January 14th, Dream released his much anticipated response video titled, “I’m Sorry (but not to TommyInnit)” in the video he apologized again for his use of the R word before going on to accuse Tommy of spreading rumors and lies about him for a year and a half. He called out Tommy and his friends for continuing to make pedophile jokes about Dream even after he responded to the accusations providing his own evidence to debunk the rumors a long time ago.

The general consensus from the Dream crashout is that both Dream and TommyInnit are pretty terrible people. Neither of them have come out of this drama looking good and to be honest, most of this could have been resolved between the pair behind closed doors.

There is a golden rule that one should be aware of and always keep on the back of one’s mind in this digital age: If you are not paying for a product or a service, you are the thing that’s being sold. Think of social media apps, like Instagram for instance, these are capitalizing on your attention. Their permanent objective as a business model is to use whatever tools they have at their disposal to retain your attention on the app regardless of whether that’s healthy for its s.

Even before this principle – or how web browser extensions can potentially track your data – was as well established in my mind, I was never fully persuaded into installing Honey by the many YouTubers I followed – from PewDiePie to Gibi ASMR – who took the sponsorship deal. Honey, in theory, sounded like the best thing since sliced bread: A free browser extension that would save you money by helping you find the best deals possible, so you did not have to go through the hassle of searching for a discount coupon. It sounded so amazing that a nagging part of me felt it was too good to be true.

Indeed, we can see there was a reason – now more blatant than ever – why PayPal would purchase Honey for a whopping $4 billion in 2020.

The Honey sponsorship trap

In 2020, Markiplier – someone who’ll always have my utmost respect and iration even if I don’t watch his videos as religiously anymore – was quite possibly the first YouTuber to sound out his distrust of Honey. He told his audience that he’d never taken the proposed sponsorship deals because he could not begin to tell how Honey made its profits, enough profits to “push so much advertising” and pay – what we can surmise are significant amounts of money – to countless influencers for them to promote their product.

This goes to show how asking the right questions – such as “Where’s all that money coming from?” – can often save you from falling for this kind of deception. But, to be fair, it might not have been easy to discern the lies. The YouTubers themselves got duped because, as Marques Brownlee said in his video reacting to scam accusations against his former sponsor, Honey was a very “YouTube-forward” company that was easy to work with and word got around among influencers that they were a desirable r. So, before you get upset at the creators who promoted Honey to their viewers, : They were, allegedly, not only misled but also ripped off.

As Hank Green said in his own YouTube video, brand deals can be the main source of revenue for certain creators, and “it can be easy not to think too hard about how things work.” But, thankfully, MegaLag decided to start “thinking hard” about how Honey’s business model works and conducted a years-long investigation. What he uncovered shocked everyone – except for you, Mark, you absolute gem.

How Honey is accused of unethically operating

As MegaLag made clear in his thorough exposé, the way Honey presented itself made it so they were attractive to businesses, creators, and the average consumer. While they would make it seem to consumers and creators like they would be saving money, to businesses Honey would tell them something that would benefit them, for instance, how they could better control the consumer’s journey as, at the end of the day, Honey would only present the coupons the business wanted to appear or none at all.

On the other hand, the creators, especially those who relied on link commissions, were getting their commissions claimed by Honey. Without doing any heavy lifting, the little Honey tab would pop in at the end of a purchase and, regardless of whether it had any discount coupons to offer, would seek to get that last page click necessary to overwrite the links with their own attribution codes so that they would get to pocket the commission money.

YouTuber Theo Rant, who’s also a developer, has an interesting theory regarding big online retailers like Amazon. Since Amazon is so strict with its policies and harsh to those who step out of line in the slightest – namely content creators – it would be almost unthinkable that they’d allow Honey, who’s almost certainly violating those same policies, to get that much money at their expense. Unless, as Theo argues, Honey and Amazon have a special deal that would make it so it also compensated Amazon. It is also not a stretch to think that Amazon was not the only corporation Honey made special deals with so they wouldn’t step on the wrong toes.

One commenter on Theo’s comment section pointed out something I hadn’t thought of: “That’s why I HATED WITH ION that browsers started hiding full URLs. This is exactly what was bound to happen.” Because, with the full URLs, we could openly perceive Honey overriding the commission codes in real-time.

Needless to say, MegaLag’s revelation of how shady Honey’s methodology is did not fly with anyone, neither consumers nor creators. One such YouTube content creator who has, thankfully, inserted himself into the situation is everyone’s favorite YouTube lawyer Devin, best known as Legal Eagle, who, on Jan. 2, 2025, dropped a video with a very short and sweet title (pun intended): “I’m suing Honey.”

That’s right, Legal Eagle has swooped in “on behalf of creators everywhere” and has filed a class action lawsuit. Honey, Legal Eagle “will see you in court” and the rest of us will sit back and watch Karma get to work – by “Karma,” we don’t mean the other similar coupon discount extension.

On Jan. 3, 9to5Google reported that Honey had lost about 3 million Chrome s in the few days since the scam allegations came to light. We can reasonably infer that more will follow as the dropping of MegaLag’s explosive video continues in its rippling effect.

Born on Nov. 9, 1992, in Detroit, Michigan, CoryxKenshin is a massively popular 32-year-old YouTuber with over 20 million subscribers. He’s best known for how he comedically plays through horror video games, such as Five Nights at Freddy’s and Bloodborne, but also for his love of manga and anime, which he can regularly be heard talking about and often discussing the possibility of creating one of his own. It’s now been revealed that he has, and it’s called “Monsters We Make.”

Starting on June 27, 2023, he disappeared from YouTube for around a year and a half. However, he recently reemerged on the popular video-sharing platform with two new s that revealed the big news and explained his 18-month absence.

The first video, ed on Dec. 13, was 107 seconds long and titled “Hey.. long time no see.” The first half of the video was an animated trailer that ended with the words “A new manga emerges” above the Monsters We Make title card. CoryxKenshin then appears on screen and delivers a short speech saying it’s good to be back. The video ends with the date 12.16.24.

On Dec. 16, as the previous video teased, a second video was ed to CoryxKenshin’s YouTube channel. This one was much longer — 23 minutes and 12 seconds, to be precise — and titled “Where I’ve been for the past year…”

In the video, CoryxKenshin goes into great detail about his recently released manga (which can be purchased digitally at the official Monsters We Make website before the release of physical copies, incidentally) and the extensive work that’s been put into it.

It’s getting excellent reviews, and the synopsis for the story reads, “For Jabari Booker, New Edyn Academy promised a future of music and mastery. But on his first day, that promise shatters into a nightmare. As he’s dragged deeper into the abyss, he realizes that true horror awaits at the end of the broken road. To survive, he must battle not only New Edyn’s monsters but also the corruption festering within its walls.” But will it ever be made into an anime series?

Will Monsters We Make become an anime?

After explaining his aims for the Monsters We Make manga, CoreyxKenshin was very specific about his intentions to have it adapted into an anime. After explaining that his first ambition was for a rich, thought-provoking story that was positive in nature, he said, “My second ambition for Monsters We Make, is to adapt the manga into an anime. You can do anything that you set your mind to. I believe in my heart that I can get this to become an anime. The ultimate goal for Monsters We Make is to get it to a studio. So again, Netlflix, CrunchyRoll, MAPPA, I’m looking at you. Whoever wants to come put in their bids, do it early.”

Those are some lofty ambitions, given the major studios and streaming services he’s calling upon to express an interest in Monsters We Make. However, if the manga proves to be as popular as early reviews suggest throughout its whole run, there’s every chance they could become a reality. We’ll keep you posted.

YouTube TV announced a significant increase in its pricing, and subscribers are taking to social media to express their frustration over the sudden spike.

Five years ago, subscribing to YouTube TV would cost you $40 per month. That’s not exactly cheap, even if that were still the price. Since then, multiple price hikes have helped to skyrocket the cost of subscriptions to what will now be $82.99 per month.

That’s obviously more than double the cost from five years ago.

The price increase goes into effect on January 13, 2025 for most existing s — it excludes those who are already locked into a trial or promotional plan — but any potential new subscribers will only be offered the $82.99 price. As of today’s announcement, existing s are paying $72.99, thus the price increase is a whopping $10 a month.

It’s worth noting that this increase does NOT include YouTube , which is an extra $13.99 a month. allows you to watch YouTube without ads and also has some additional perks, such as videos continuing to play on your phone while the screen is off, which is useful for music and/or podcast listeners.

YouTube TV received so many negative replies to its initial announcement on X that it actually deleted the post and later posted a new announcement that is more explanatory in an attempt to justify the increase. That post is also receiving an overwhelming amount of negative replies, and has been Community Noted, with readers adding context pointing out the percentage of the price increase over the years.

The company reminded s that it has over 100 channels and offers the ability to stream three channels concurrently. It also offers up to six different s per household and has a DVR with unlimited storage.

Other reasons given for the price hike include, as the company states, “The rising cost of content.” There are no specifics as to what that cost is, exactly, and this comes just a year after dropping MLB network as well as other local sports networks, thus offering less in of sports content.

The last time there was a price hike was March 2023, when the company bumped the monthly price tag by $8 from what was then a $64.99 subscription rate.

YouTube TV also stated on its post, and in an email sent to subscribers, “We don’t make these decisions lightly, and we realize this impacts our .”

The company added that many new shows and events will be featured on YouTube TV in 2025. In hopes not to lose more subscribers, yet likely knowing that will certainly happen, YouTube TV concluded the post by stating, “Thank you for being a loyal member.”

Currently, YouTube TV has over 8 million subscribers, which makes it the most popular paid TV service in the United States. For those reasons, the company likely won’t feel the effect of the many cancellations about to come its way.

However, announcing a price increase during the holiday season may not be the best timing either. There’s no reason why YouTube TV, owned by Google, couldn’t have waited a month or two to annoy its paid subscribers. Instead, it’s a happy holiday message that no one will appreciate.

David Dobrik did a lot of things wrong in his time. From multiple allegations of sexual assault to pulling off a stunt that landed one of his so-called friends in the hospital, his list of wrongdoings is rather long. But hey, at least he was good at playing matchmaker, introducing some of the internet’s most iconic couples to his fans.

One such couple was Natalie Noel (real name Natalie Mariduena) and Toddy Smith. The two met while working for Dobrik over the years. Natalie was David’s executive assistant and a fan favorite in the popular but controversial “Vlog Squad,” while Toddy was a former Viner who often popped up in Dobrik’s videos. In 2020, the pair began dating, much to the delight of fans who loved watching their relationship flourish — until 2023, when everything seemingly fell apart.

Who is Natalie Noel dating?

At the time of writing, it’s believed that Natalie isn’t dating anyone following her 2023 breakup with Todd. The exact reason or date for their split was never revealed, but internet sleuths noticed that Natalie’s last post with Todd was from late March 2023 — a post that has since been deleted. Six months later, Todd confirmed the breakup.

He addressed the split on an episode of the All Good Things podcast, where he revealed that he and Natalie had ended their nearly three-year relationship. While Todd didn’t share too many details, he mentioned that he had started therapy before the breakup. He even joked that he hadn’t started therapy early enough, which ended up affecting their relationship — mainly because he wasn’t happy with himself.

The breakup shook up a lot of their fanbase. Watching Todd and Natalie grow closer in real time made many fans genuinely believe they were meant to last. They were adorable together, and Todd’s candid moments in vlogs where he confessed his feelings for Natalie only made fans root for them even more. When it all fell apart, fans took sides, with some sending hate to Natalie, Todd, or even David — because apparently, that’s what some people think is the way to cope with a breakup they’re not even involved in.

However, the split turned out to be just what both influencers needed to flourish. Since 2023, Todd has kept his online presence steady and remains active on social media with plenty of projects in the works. From clothing brands to music and even filmmaking, he’s keeping himself busy and branching out into different areas.

Natalie, meanwhile, has also been thriving. With 3 million Instagram followers, she’s grown her platform significantly. She’s launched her own clothing brand and has become a full-fledged influencer, focusing on fashion, travel, and makeup across several social media platforms — even if Dobrik isn’t as involved in her popularity as he once was.

Despite David Dobrik’s rise and fall, Todd and Natalie have managed to solidify their presence online. Even after their public breakup, neither has spoken negatively about the other or their relationship. If nothing else, Dobrik’s tangled web of controversies did give fans this failed yet meaningful relationship, and at least something good came from it.

YouTube Let’s Play streamer Chuggaaconroy is currently fending serious allegations of harassment this year but, as usual when it comes to YouTube drama, it’s not a clear-cut case. Now that both sides have had their say and it seems the dust has settled somewhat Chugga has been able to resume his career online. So what were the allegations made against him and how did the popular gamer respond?

Who is Chuggaaconroy?

Chuggaaconroy, or Emiliano Rodolfo Rosales-Birou (Emile for short) made a YouTube in 2006 during the website’s infancy and ed his first Let’s Play in 2008. Since then he’s continued to create content mostly revolving around Nintendo which has netted him 1.25 million subscribers over the past 16 years. 

Unlike many who started around the same time as him, Emile’s content remains largely unchanged. In many ways his Let’s Plays feel like a throwback to the golden age of gaming on YouTube. Although, like every other YouTuber, Emile’s online personality is a front, and the person behind the screen may not be as wholesome as he seems.

The controversy

By now we’re all used to hearing stories about popular YouTubers abusing their position and turning out to be massive creeps. So when accusations started being made about Emile it was sad, but not too hard to believe. It all started in January 2024 when video essayist, Lady Emily made a post to X publicly accusing Emile of sexual harassment. She claimed that he frequently messaged her trying to initiate erotic foot fetish roleplay despite her not being into it and she had the messages to back up her claim.

This was followed by another woman coming forward. MasaeAnela, a fellow Let’s Player, who had made videos with Emile on his channel in the past, accused him of making her feel uncomfortable on numerous occasions as well as pushing boundaries frequently. Going back through the catalog of videos does show that Emile would often make jokes of a sexual nature in his videos with Masae. Many believed Masae’s story.

The most damning accusation came from an individual claiming to be friends with a girl who had received sexual messages from Emile when she was 15 and he was 19. As you can imagine this was the final straw for many fans of the YouTuber.

Chuggaaconroy responds

Although it took some time for the response, (he was itted to a mental health facility for a short period) Emile finally responded to all the accusations in a lengthy Google doc which gives his perspective on the whole thing.

Starting with Lady Emily, Emile claimed that he had not realized he was making her uncomfortable, believing Emily was on board with the topics being discussed. After she communicated her discomfort to him he stopped ing her and provided screenshots of the chat backing up his claim. Fans on X also pointed out that she had left out vital context.

Emile also drops a pretty big bombshell regarding MasaeAnela by revealing that the two had been a couple and were even engaged before breaking things off in 2021. Fans had often suspected the two were an item but nothing had ever been confirmed, according to him Masae had not wanted to go public with their relationship. Many wondered why Masae had failed to mention such an important detail when first making her accusation.

As for the underage girl Emile had been messaging, he doesn’t deny anything, but claims he was young and naive as a 19-year-old in 2010, when the chats took place. Emile says that the girl had been the one pursuing him and that he had cut things off once he realized the sexual jokes weren’t jokes to her. Once again, he provides screenshots that seem to back up his side of the story.

While many thought that would be the last we see of Chuggaaconroy, the YouTuber has since returned to his Let’s Play roots with many of his fans deciding to forgive him and continue ing the channel. Draw whatever conclusions you will about this messy situation.