We recently reported that Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment had settled its case with FTC, in which the publisher was charged with failing to ensure proper disclosure in Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor promotional videos. One of the names that kept coming up in headlines was PewDiePie’s, who has now responded to the allegations made against him in a new video, criticizing media for using his name when in fact he had disclosed Warner Bros.’ sponsorship in his videos back before FTC’s new guidelines for such campaigns were even implemented. PewDiePie, whose real name is Felix Kjellberg, explains:
This is two years ago. A lot of YouTubers were involved in this sponsorship but since I’m the biggest YouTuber, my name is the only one that pops up. We weren’t required to disclose. I still did it. Some other YouTubers actually didn’t disclose it, but I’m getting all the shit for it.
The FTC didn’t release guidelines to YouTube until 2015. And this video was in 2014. Because of this back then YouTube paid promotion was a bit of a grey area. Nevertheless, I still disclaimed it.
Kjellberg then went on to lambast news outlets for using his name as “clickbait” even though he wasn’t involved. You can find the rest of his comments in the video above.
