PewDiePie ban lifted after controversy
18th February 2019
Online social game Roblox has reinstated PewDiePie's account after banning the popular YouTuber over an "inappropriate username".
PewDiePie revealed the ban to his more than 85 million subscribers.
Other users then reported that they had received bans or warnings simply for mentioning the YouTuber's name.
PewDiePie's account was eventually reinstated, with Roblox calling the ban "incorrect".
"Roblox is committed to providing a safe and civil platform for our players, including blocking memes that represent or are synonymous for behaviour that falls outside of our community standards," it said in a post on its developer forums.
"In December, 'pewdie' became one of these negative memes on Roblox. As such, we began blocking the creation of new usernames that incorporated the term.
"The legacy account that PewDiePie used in his livestream was incorrectly banned as part of the administration of this policy."
PewDiePie took the whole affair in his stride.
Skip Twitter post by @pewdiepie
There is a godMy roblox account was unbanned. pic.twitter.com/jE8WgjEf2E— ƿ૯ωძɿ૯ƿɿ૯ (@pewdiepie) February 14, 2019
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— (@pewdiepie) End of Twitter post by @pewdiepie
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Even before PewDiePie made a video announcing the ban, several people took to social media after they noticed a "purge" on anything related to the YouTuber.
items purchased in-game which featured PewDiePie branding had been .
Others said that "subscribe to PewDiePie" in the game's chat.
And Roblox player Rogos, who features in PewDiePie's video, said that his account was disabled simply for writing "hi PewDiePie" when he saw the popular YouTuber in-game.
Skip Twitter post by @localrogos
OMG ROBLOX look, i met pewdiepie yesterday on bee swarm simulator, greeted him #pewdiepie @pewdiepie #roblox @Roblox, it was before the rule was addedbut i only got my acc disabled not terminated. it's real check herehttps://t.co/TECPi6fztc pic.twitter.com/NB39OknY0K— ROGOS (@localrogos) February 11, 2019
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Meanwhile, some of the game's players have questioned the authenticity of the "pewdie meme".
"I have never seen anything like that on Roblox," "Back in 2018, in December, not once did I see it."
It may refer to the "subscribe to PewDiePie" messages that became ubiquitous with the latter part of last year.
Various paid adverts urging people to subscribe to his YouTube channel, with some even .
But others have suggested that even if this ban was accurate, it would be next to impossible to follow as they were not aware of it.
"The 'pewdie' ban is not in the rules," . "Why was there no public warning for this ban?"
It is not clear whether users will face sanctions in the future for discussing PewDiePie in the game platform's chat.
Source: bbc.com