Things Are Looking Bad For ItsOwen After YouTube Ban
Fans are still mourning the death of "Minecraft" creator Technoblade, who died at the end of June 2022 after a battle with cancer. The YouTuber had earned a massive following and became known for his creative builds and upbeat, encouraging personality. After Technoblade's death, his father read a final statement from the creator, thanking viewers for their support over the years. "Minecraft" developer Mojang even created a heartfelt tribute to Technoblade, updating the game's launch screen to include a tiny crowned pig in honor of the YouTuber's avatar. As statements of thanks and adoration poured in from all corners of the internet, something more insidious was brewing, though. In the wake of Technoblade's death, many YouTubers began to attempt to profit off of the tragedy by creating clickbait videos meant to draw in Technoblade's fans.
One such YouTuber, ItsOwen, who had several million followers at the time his channel was banned (via Dexerto), has been specifically called out by the gaming community for attempting to make a quick buck off of Technoblade's death. Unfortunately, ItsOwen is only one creator in what has become a trend of videos alleging to have more information about Technoblade's death or messages eulogizing Techno from popular creators like MrBeast. However, none of these videos are legitimate, even if they feature impressive screenshots to encourage a click. ItsOwen was the first of these accounts to be banned, and now fans are calling for justice across the platform for those that want to make money off of a sad circumstance.
ItsOwen used Technoblade's death as clickbait
It's not necessarily simple to parse what happened with ItsOwen entirely, or what he was actually banned for, but many viewers acknowledged that ItsOwen was involved in using Technoblade's death as clickbait to gain views on his videos. Even worse, ItsOwen seems to be taking part in a larger trend. MoistCr1TiKal, a streamer known for his commentary on both the gaming industry and community, discussed some of the most awful videos in a trend meant to profit from Technoblade's death, and he began with ItsOwen, who uploaded an alleged video of MrBeast saying goodbye to Techno, wiping a tear from his eye.
The video was, of course, fake, meant to gain clicks from fans of both MrBeast and Technoblade. MoistCr1TiKal remarked that ItsOwen has a past of using clickbait for his own gain, posting videos guaranteed to get views, racking up a hefty subscriber list, then selling the accounts to others who want to begin their YouTube career with many followers.
Since the controversy began, ItsOwen has set his Twitter account to private, but some creators and outlets managed to snag photos of his tweets before they were inaccessible. Creator iJevin posted a photo of ItsOwen's initial tweet on July 4th, which explained that his YouTube account had been deleted. He plead with fans, "Please help me get it back. I'm so depressed right now I don't know what to do." The reaction to ItsOwen's tweets wasn't quite what he expected, though. Viewers seemed to have little empathy for what they see as ItsOwen's attempt to use Technoblade's death for profit, and saw the entire situation as crass. "The death of a youtube channel is much better than the death of an actual person. I have no sympathy," said one Twitter user bluntly.
Part of a larger trend
As MoistCr1TiKal explained in a video on the recent trend, ItsOwen isn't the only creator attempting to make money off of a tragic situation. One YouTuber masqueraded as fellow "Minecraft" content creator Dream, posting over 25 videos as soon as Techno's father announced his death. Each video featured posts from the actual Dream, read by text-to-speech software. MoistCr1TiKal estimated that the account had made thousands of dollars since its creation only days before.
Perhaps the most egregious example in the trend of profiting off of Technoblade's death is Braso, a creator who reportedly faked making a donation to a charity in Technoblade's honor. YouTube creator Gentei explained the Braso situation, analyzing why his donation seemed fraudulent. Gentei said that Braso had attempted to earn money off of Technoblade after the "Minecraft" creator was diagnosed with cancer. Braso claimed that he had donated the profits from one of his videos to a charity in honor of Technoblade, but he in fact did not, keeping the money for himself. After backlash surfaced online, Braso made a video apologizing for the incident and saying that he suffers from imposter syndrome. The clicks he received from his Technoblade video were addictive, and one thing led to another. However, given Braso's repeated history of profiting off of others, as Gentei pointed out, it's difficult to know what the truth is.
Regardless, the rash of YouTube creators attempting to gain from a sad situation has given the community pause and started a conversation about the ethics of clickbait.