The YouTuber who sold riots by ‘monetizing hate’… ‘10 million won per day’ earned by attracting crowd psychology clicks

In the early morning of the 19th, President Yoon Seok-yeol’s hard-core supporters broke into the Seoul Western District Court without permission, causing a shock. This is because people broke into the court, the last bastion of the rule of law, assaulted the police, and damaged the court office and property. Far-right YouTubers who aimed to maximize profits through ‘Super Chat’ etc. are being pointed out as one of the factors contributing to such mass riots. The police said, “We will also thoroughly investigate far-right YouTubers if they are related to the violence.” The legal community also believed that if it is proven that a person incited and influenced an illegal and violent incident, he or she could be punished for ‘instigation’.

On the 20th, Maeil Business Newspaper analyzed the Super Chat revenue for the 18 days since the execution of President Yoon’s first arrest warrant on the 3rd on the YouTube analysis platform Playboard, and found that the money earned by five YouTube channels classified as far-right was It was tentatively calculated to be worth 274.47 million won. A channel was also confirmed to have earned the highest daily profit of 17.05 million won. This is the result of analyzing 5 conservative channels among the top 10 channels in Super Chat revenue over the past week (6th to 12th).

Far-right YouTubers are taking advantage of the recent chaos of rallies and protests to increase their power and benefit economically.

By channel, the channel that earned the most revenue during the period was A, a representative far-right YouTube channel with 1.62 million subscribers. Channel A is estimated to have earned a total of 108.96 million won from the 3rd to the 20th. Channel A earned up to 13.05 million won per day on the 5th, two days after the first arrest warrant execution attempt.

The number of subscribers to Channel A increased by about 110,000 (7%) compared to the day before the ‘December 3 martial law incident’ last year. The number of channel A subscribers was almost unchanged from 1.49 million in January last year, but it has increased sharply by about 110,000 in just one and a half months since the martial law situation.

The far-right YouTuber channel that earned the most revenue per day during the same period is Channel B, which was recently reported by the Democratic Party of Korea. On the 15th, the day President Yoon was arrested, this channel’s daily revenue was calculated to be 17.05 million won.

The number of subscribers to Channel B also increased by 437,000 (157%) compared to the day before the December 3 martial law incident.

In addition, the revenue earned by major top-grossing channels over the past 18 days is 40.04 million won for C Channel, 45.52 million won for D Channel, and 24.07 million won for E Channel.

There are claims that YouTubers also led the group riot at the Western District Court in the early morning of the 19th. In particular, opinions have been raised that YouTubers are broadcasting live at rallies and taking more extreme actions to receive sponsorship. The police said that three YouTubers were among the 46 people who broke into the Western District Court at the time.

A former prosecutor and law school professor said, “Even if the YouTuber did not directly commit violence, if it is proven that he incited and directed violence and damage at the Western District Court and that this was conveyed to the protesters and influenced them, he should be punished as an instigator and the same punishment as the main criminal (demonstrators). “You can get it,” he pointed out.

Some say that U.S. precedents, such as U.S. President Donald Trump’s allegations of election fraud in 2020 and the storming of the U.S. Capitol in 2021, have become examples of riots at the Western District Court. Domestic far-right YouTubers are encouraging distrust in the media by citing the presidential election results, which showed Trump’s landslide victory, as an example, contrary to the established media’s predictions of ‘Hidden Harris’ last year.

Meanwhile, when a far-right YouTuber channel was singled out as one of the key drivers of the riots, a movement to ‘draw a line’ and ‘blame others’ was also seen. A representative example is the factional fight between YouTubers following the rally at the Western District Court. The CEO of Channel A posted a video and publicly criticized another far-right YouTuber, saying he was behind the incitement of violence. This is interpreted as an attempt to avoid responsibility as the group riot incident at the Western District Court expanded into a police investigation.

2025-01-20 21:47:00