YouTube’s Stricter Binge-Eating Rules Put Mukbang Creators’ Monetization Under Scrutiny

Popular Korean mukbang creators are facing increased scrutiny over monetization as YouTube tightens enforcement of guidelines related to binge eating and eating disorders.

On September 18, mukbang creator DietJo, who has around 440,000 subscribers, announced through the channel’s community page that monetization had been suspended. DietJo said YouTube had recently strengthened enforcement surrounding binge-eating and eating-disorder-related content and that uploads had also been paused while the creator and management company worked on a solution.

Earlier, creator Miso, who has around 100,000 subscribers, uploaded a video titled “The Reason Why I Had No Choice But to Delete Four Years of YouTube Videos.” Miso said she first received a guideline-violation notice in mid-March and later received notice that the channel’s monetization would be temporarily suspended. She said she and her management team contacted YouTube’s official support channel and filed an appeal while communicating with the platform throughout April.

According to the report, YouTube expanded its eating-disorder content guidelines in 2023 to cover behaviors that younger viewers could potentially imitate, rather than limiting enforcement only to content that directly promotes eating disorders.

The report also states that YouTube updated its advertising policies in September to withhold revenue from content depicting potentially imitable risky behaviors, including binge eating, hiding or excessively stockpiling food, and laxative abuse.

The article suggested that major mukbang creators such as Tzuyang and Heebab could also face greater restrictions under the stricter enforcement, though it did not report that either creator had personally received a monetization penalty. Both have built large audiences around high-volume eating content and have also appeared on television.

Mukbang, short for “eating broadcast,” first became popular through Korean internet broadcasting platforms such as AfreecaTV, now known as SOOP, before spreading internationally through YouTube.

Netizen Reactions

The sampled Nate News comments were overwhelmingly supportive of the stricter enforcement, with many criticizing extreme eating content and questioning how much money creators can earn from it.

1. Just stuffing their faces, making money, stuffing their faces again, making money... Serves them right... TV entertainment shows should be regulated too.

2. I totally welcome this~~~ Just cut off monetization for all of them completely~!!

3. Food reviews and things like that are fine, but eating hundreds of shrimp just looks gross. It doesn’t even look appetizing, and it’s not like this is some kind of stunt show.

4. Took them long enough to regulate it. They should’ve done this ages ago.

5. Instead of cracking down on this kind of stuff, shouldn’t they deal with those tattooed punks coming on-screen and getting into fights first?

6. I love this~~~~~~~ Watching people stuff their faces and travel around while making money is unbearable. I want to see people actually sweat for their money ㅠ

7. This might be the one policy where YouTube did better than terrestrial TV.

8. I truly welcome this. I’ve always questioned whether YouTubers whose job is basically eating—and eating huge amounts at that—are really the kind of career role models we want for the next generation of kids. I hope they keep improving things so that undesirable content can’t be turned into profit and, ultimately, into a career.

9. Professionals who contribute to the advancement of humanity should be the ones earning a lot. How does something like mukbang become a job where people make tens of millions of won a month? The world really is becoming strange. I think things like this are part of why people seem so joyless these days.

10. Seriously, why do people even watch someone else eat in the first place? I never watch because I can’t stand the sound of people smacking and chewing their food.

Source: Nate News