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Many seem worried that this incident will have long-standing ramifications for everyone on the platform:

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If YouTubers sound wary, it’s because they’ve already been put through the wringer this year. After the Wall Street Journal reported on Kjellberg’s Nazi references, many large advertisers pulled out from the platform. Enormous channels and small outfits alike felt the consequences, with many creators reporting that their earnings on YouTube plummeted for months. More recently, companies started coming back to YouTube, and ad revenue started to bounce back. Even so, many YouTubers are still operating under a tightened belt thanks to strict monetization guidelines that make it difficult for video-game-focused-channels to make a living.

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Kjellberg, many argue, sets precedent on the platform by virtue of being the biggest channel. Some personalities would hesitate to say the “adpocalypse” was Kjellberg’s fault, but nobody can ignore just how visible his specific channel was during that period of time. He may not even want this responsibility, but the sheer size of his audience grants him that importance anyway. Whatever happens to Kjellberg could happen to anybody.

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There’s more than advertiser money at stake: depending on what happens next, Kjellberg’s action could impact the entire YouTube landscape. There’s the legal aspect—if the indie developer prohibiting Kjellberg from playing its games goes to court, could that case have an effect on all other channels who do Let’s Play-style videos? Will more developers take a stand against YouTubers who play their games? Will YouTube itself step in and dictate more rules about what is allowed on the platform, or how its users are allowed to act? Nobody knows. YouTubers, even the ones who don’t blurt out racial slurs during game time, feel that they are at the mercy of forces beyond their control.

For now, the YouTube machine will keep spinning: