Jubilee is a media company and YouTube channel (10 million+ subscribers) primarily known for its inflammatory viral content platforming increasingly fringe, violent political views.
Though the channel started with noble intentions -- to brings folks with different perspectives together for good-faith debate -- its content has devolved into a sort of rage-bait political porn, generating millions of dollars by making people as angry, offended, and divided as possible. Its recent videos include "1 Progressive vs 20 Far-Right Conservatives", wherein a participant proudly identifies as a "fascist" and calls into question the severity of the Holocaust, "Anorexia vs. Obese", wherein three people with eating disorders debate three people who are obese (what exactly is there to debate?), and "Is Being Fat a Choice?", wherein a pro-Hitler podcaster named Myron Gaines claimed "fat people deserve to be bullied".
Jason Y. Lee, Jubilee's founder and a graduate of U Penn's Wharton School of Business, said in 2021 that his goal for Jubilee was to create the "Disney for Empathy". Today, it's the opposite: intentionally rage-inducing "arguments" with no constructive purpose and no educational value, edited so as to maximize conflict, hurt those already on the margins of society (people of color, queer people, disabled people, fat people, etc), and launder dangerous anti-science viewpoints. Why?
The answer lies in YouTube's monetization structure. The way YouTube channels make money is through the platform's AdSense program, which shares revenue generated from YouTube ads with the creators who make videos on the platform. YouTube keeps 45% and gives the creator the other 55% -- a generous split which remains the gold standard for social media platform revenue sharing with creators.
In short, the more views, comments, and shares you get, the more money you earn. Because of this, any noble intentions Jason Lee had when creating Jubilee have gone out the window. What remains is the lowest form of political slop content: mind-numbing pain for profit. Jubilee now collects annual revenue in the millions (per Socialblade estimate) off the backs of everyone who is harmed by the platforming of self-identified fascists.
YouTube video creators -- especially those with marginalized identities -- have been demonetized by the platform for far less egregious and offensive content than Jubilee gets away with posting regularly. As a queer creator myself, I'm all too familiar with the impossible tightrope of maintaining my authentic voice without sacrificing my income. There is no reason why a channel whose sole purpose is to sow division and hatred should be able to accrue six figures monthly.
This petition represents every person who's been hurt by the bigoted, violent ideologies regularly laundered on Jubilee through the dishonest framing of "debate." Our goal is to make such a content mill financially untenable. In a civil society, it should be.
Warmly,
Matt Bernstein
@mattxiv, Host of A Bit Fruity
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