After PewDiePie’s leadership turned out to be on the chopping block given the growth rate of commercial project T-Series’ subscriber count, the Swedish gamer launched at least two online campaigns – one, initiated by fans, to extend his following, and another one to vocally reject a “meme ban” regulated by pending EU copyright legislation.
The official UKIP Twitter account has declared its support for PewDiePie and has urged its followers to give their likes to the gamer to prevent the widely popular Indian company T-Series from grabbing the top spot:
“Are you doing your part? Help protect freedom of speech on the internet by sharing and signing this petition against the EU Copyright Directive”, the right-wing party started by bringing up the EU’s copyright rules now in the making.
“Also, don’t forget to subscribe to @pewdiepie on YouTube and keep the corporate @TSeries from the top”, UKIP continued.
It further explained the connection between the two points made above, saying the British party is leading the charge against the EU Copyright Directive. “Internet memes are the frontline of the culture war and the establishment know it”, it stated, adding the right-wingers “stand with @PrisonPlanet, @not_sargon, @CountDankulaTV, @pewdiepie and all YouTube creators”.
The alliance appears to have raised quite a few questions on Twitter, although many openly applauded the gesture:
One, however, couldn’t deny quite a bit of irony in the right-wing politicians backing “a Swedish migrant”:
For some, UKIP’s move won them a bit more approval than their policies, while others merely stated the fact of politics entering the YouTube world.
UKIP’s post came after PewDiePie launched a massive online campaign urging fans to “save the internet” as he kickstarted a fight against Article 13, the European bloc’s new regulation, dubbed “the meme ban” that is set to crack down on copyright infringements.
The Swedish gamer, aka Felix Kjellberg, tweeted a link to a petition captioning it in a very emotional way: “200,000 signatures as of yesterday, very epic! KEEP SIGNING THIS PETITION!”
The campaign countering the Copyright Directive, which will give publishers the right to demand money from web platforms if parts of their articles pop up in news search results or reposts, has been launched amidst a fierce battle between Felix and Indian music company T-Series.
A million-strong gap in the number of their subscribers has recently narrowed down, with T-Series rapidly closing in with merely 100,000 fans fewer than Felix. With the gamer having accrued nearly 82 million likes on YouTube, he shows no sign of slowing down, as fans eagerly give him backing as an individual creator, rather than a company pursuing commercial interests.
Sourse: sputniknews.com
