Disguised Toast Gives Clickbait Channels An Ultimatum
Anyone who spends too much time online is familiar with clickbait, news stories and videos with catchy headlines designed to grab your attention and get you to click on the link. Clickbait is often designed to get views by stoking outrage or excitement, playing on people's emotions to keep them engaged. YouTube is no exception to the clickbait phenomenon, with entire channels devoted to posting clickbait videos. Now, Twitch streamer Disguised Toast is speaking out against clickbait channels and threatening to take action against those that run them.
Clickbait channels, and the temptation to use clickbait to advance one's career, has become a significant problem for YouTubers. Earlier this year, things started looking bad for ItsOwen after earning a YouTube ban for making clickbait videos to profit off the heartbreaking death of "Minecraft" creator Technoblade. Even members of the video game industry have complained about clickbait before, arguing that it drives negative press about their companies — as was the case when a Unity CEO's comments caused an uproar. Here's how Disguised Toast feels about clickbait, and how the streamer plans to punish those who'd target him.
Disguised Toast's clickbait crusade
Jeremy Wang, better known as Disguised Toast, has been visiting Japan and was speaking about his tour of a love hotel — essentially Japan's version of hourly rate "no-tell" motels — and was noting the existence of themed love hotels when he shifted to a discussion of clickbait. Speaking on his Twitch channel, Disguised Toast criticized clickbait channels, saying he's fed up with them. The streamer made clear he would no longer tolerate anyone misrepresenting him by taking videos out of context for clicks. He emphasized that this was not an empty threat. If he sees instances of his clips being used for clickbait, he intends to report the offenders to YouTube for copyright violations and get them banned. While he quickly dropped the subject and switched to more pleasant topics, it was apparent that this issue has been bothering him lately.
Viewers were notably supportive of his comments, cheering him on in the chat. Statements like "get them toast" and "Call them out" could be observed scrolling up the screen. While the streamer has recently spoken about his struggles to stay motivated and create content, he clearly still has the support of his fans and passion for his medium. It remains to be seen if this will deter the clickbaiters in the future.