Upon reviewing examples of mukbang videos involving live animals sent by Newsweek, YouTube spokesperson Ivy Choi said: "YouTube has never allowed content that's violent or abusive toward animals. Newsweek has contacted Facebook for comment. As a result, tormenting animals before eating them is a trend that enjoys a seat at the table. Mukbangs are inherently culinary in nature, meaning these policies bear cracks that allow content involving live marine animals to slip through, virtually unbridled. Google-owned YouTube's policy on animal suffering similarly makes exceptions for "traditional or standard purposes such as hunting or food preparation." The outcry has left many wondering how such content is allowed to be disseminated on the biggest social platforms.įacebook, which also owns Instagram, prohibits content depicting violence against animals unless it occurs in certain contexts, such as food consumption and preparation. This trend has attracted a polarized viewership, from wide-eyed fans clamoring for more, to revolted critics charging animal cruelty. YouTube/Ssoyoungīeyond fads such as eating raw honeycomb and Hot Cheetos-flavored dishes, a highly provocative trend involving cooking or eating marine animals while they're still alive has garnered continuous backlash.Īcross mainstream social media platforms, there exist widely-shared videos of people tearing off octopuses' wriggling legs with their teeth, biting through the shells of stressed crablets, smacking water-spraying geoducks, and placing vigorously moving sea creatures onto fired-up pans or grills. And in today's influencer economy, mukbang creators are able to profit from every bite and sip by monetizing their videos and securing sponsorships.īut like other internet subcultures, mukbangs-and the platforms that host them-have engendered controversy.Ī screenshot of a YouTube video by Ssoyoung, a prominent mukbang influencer, in which she eats live octopuses.
Many successful mukbangers stimulate their audiences' senses by deploying autonomous sensory meridian response, or ASMR. So-called "mukbangers" craft opulent platters of colorful, textured foods, capturing their meals with state-of-the-art recording equipment. The videos involve people filming themselves enjoying food-either silently or in-between chatter, alone or with company-and posting it online. First launched in South Korea, the phenomenon's name blends the Korean words for "eating" and "broadcast."
Mukbangs have attained a global reach over the past few years, creating a new medium to manifest a universal love for food. Debates also arose over whether social media platforms should enact more stringent policies regarding mukbang content depicting animal cruelty. It prompted widespread criticism from viewers and fellow influencers, who accused Ssoyoung of torturing the animals. The video, from March 2019, has generated 16 million views on Ssoyoung's YouTube channel, which boasts more than six million subscribers, at the time of writing.