YouTube’s annual recap video, showcasing some of the most popular influencers on the platform, has come under fire this year becoming the second-most disliked video in the website’s history.
YouTube Rewind 2018 has amassed more than 8.2 million dislikes at the time of writing, second only to Justin Bieber’s 2010 single Baby which was disliked more than 9.7 million times.
But while Bieber’s dislikes came over the past eight years, YouTube was able to reach the milestone in just three days.
Rewind 2018 has come in for criticism for not including some of the site’s top stars, including Logan Paul, Shane Dawson and PewDiePie – with the video’s comments dominated by people asking where the website’s most-subscribed to YouTuber is.
PewDiePie’s battle with Bollywood channel T-Series to keep the top spot has been one of the most-talked about topics on the website, yet it did not feature in the video.
PewDiePie – whose real name is Felix Kjellberg – has released a reaction video in which he criticises the oversaturation of video game Fortnite and inclusion of people that aren’t YouTube personalities, such as clips of US talk show hosts Trevor Noah and John Oliver doing Fortnite dances.
He points out that the video does not mention key moments of 2018, such as the outpouring of support on YouTube for those who died this year, including LazyTown’s “Robbie Rotten” actor Stefan Karl Stefansson.
“I remember Rewind [used to be] something that seemed like an homage to the creators that year,” he says in the video. “It was something cool to be a part of.
“Now it’s like I’m almost glad I’m not in it, because it’s such a cringey video at this point. It’s so disconnected with the community and its creators.”
Others on social media shared PewDiePie’s views.
One of the biggest criticisms of the video was the failure to feature Logan Paul and KSI, whose boxing bout was streamed by about 800,000 people on YouTube.
Their much-hyped fight in Manchester Arena drew questions on how YouTube may influence modern sport, yet it did not make the cut.
Other notable absences include Shane Dawson, whose eight-part series on Jake Paul was widely-discussed on social media in 2018.
