YouTube ad restrictions put Korean 'mukbang' creators on alert

The Korea Times - Sep 22, 2026

YouTube’s tighter enforcement of its policies on eating disorder-related content is affecting Korean food and diet creators, with some losing advertising revenue or deleting hundreds of old videos. Tzuyang, one of Korea’s best-known "mukbang" creators, also weighed in on the issue in a video uploaded Sunday. Mukbang, which translates to eating broadcast, refers to content showing people eating large quantities of food. “I heard eating a lot isn’t the trend these days,” she said while vising Sinpo Market in Incheon. “I’ll try to be a YouTuber who eats a reasonable amount from now on.” She nevertheless went on to eat fried chicken, spicy rice cakes, Korean blood sausage, donuts and several other dishes in her usual mukbang style. Tzuyang has about 13.5 million subscribers on YouTube. Other creators have already faced restrictions. DietJo, a food and diet YouTuber with about 440,000 subscribers, said her channel had been demonetized as YouTube applies stricter guidelines to videos involving binge eating and eating disorder-related content. She said she had also stopped uploadi

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