[Sportschosun Lee Ji-hyun] Amid the news that DietJo, a mukbang and diet YouTuber with 440,000 subscribers, has had monetization suspended on the YouTube channel, growing attention is being paid to how YouTube's advertising policies on eating disorders will affect mukbang content in South Korea as a whole.
On the 17th, DietJo announced through the community section of the YouTube channel, "Hello, Meok-eojo members. This is DietJo. Monetization on my channel is currently suspended."
DietJo continued, "YouTube has recently tightened its guidelines on binge eating and eating disorders and appears to be imposing strong restrictions on channels that upload related videos. We are working with the company to find a solution, and I have also stopped uploading videos because I do not know which videos might be penalized," explaining the situation.
DietJo added, "I will come back and share an update as soon as the issue is resolved."
DietJo is a YouTuber who has produced mukbang, diet and lifestyle content. The channel currently has approximately 447,000 subscribers and about 290 million cumulative views.
The news that DietJo's monetization had been suspended has also drawn attention to mukbang YouTubers in South Korea.
Tzuyang, one of South Korea's leading mukbang creators, currently has approximately 13.5 million subscribers. The channel has grown into a massive platform with about 3.9 billion cumulative views. Tzuyang's signature content is large-quantity eating mukbang, featuring enormous amounts of food consumed in a single sitting.
Heebab is also a prominent mukbang creator known for eating large amounts of food. The channel currently has approximately 1.72 million subscribers and more than 960 million cumulative views. Heebab has focused on large-scale eating content, even revealing on a broadcast last July that monthly food expenses, including filming costs, exceeded 10 million won.
However, there has been no confirmation that Tzuyang or Heebab has had channel-wide monetization suspended under the eating-disorder policy. Both channels also continue to release content as usual. Therefore, it is difficult to conclude that mukbang content becomes subject to monetization restrictions simply because it features someone eating a lot.
In fact, YouTube's advertiser-friendly content guidelines do not classify mukbang itself as content barred from monetization. The issue arises when content focuses on eating disorders and shows behavior that viewers could be encouraged to engage in or imitate.
YouTube specifically identifies, in connection with eating disorders, signals that could encourage or be imitated by viewers. These include content emphasizing an extremely low weight or BMI, hiding or stockpiling food, references to binge eating, exercise that leads to insufficient calorie intake, vomiting or laxative abuse, and checking on weight-loss progress.
In July 2025, YouTube changed its policy to align its advertising guidelines on eating disorders with its community guidelines. The platform's policy is not to provide ad revenue for content focused on eating disorders while sharing triggers such as binge eating, hiding or hoarding food, or laxative abuse.
Although YouTube eased its advertising standards for some sensitive topics in January this year, it decided to continue withholding full monetization from content focused on eating disorders.
Recently, these standards have also appeared to be affecting mukbang and diet creators in South Korea. Reports have emerged that related creators are closely monitoring YouTube's policies after some videos that had caused no problems in the past were subjected to advertising restrictions.
DietJo has also stopped uploading new videos, saying it is impossible to know specifically which videos might be deemed problematic. As a result, attention is turning to South Korea's mukbang content, which has grown around the rapid consumption of large quantities of food. Many major mukbang channels with millions of viewers, including Tzuyang and Heebab, make the act of eating a lot the core of their content. The key question is how YouTube will distinguish and apply its standards to simple overeating versus content that encourages or glamorizes eating disorders.
Mukbang itself has not become subject to regulation. However, after the actual case of DietJo losing monetization came to light, attention is growing over how future policy changes could affect South Korea's leading mukbang creators.
olzllovely@sportschosun.com
This article has been translated by GripLabs Mingo AI.
