Elon Musk Has Become Too Toxic for YouTube – ryan

Photo-illustration: Intelligenmer; Photo: YouTube/Mark Rober

This Week, Engineer and Practical Joker Mark Rober, Best Known for A Series in Which He Pranks Package Thieves with Glitter Bombsreleassed a characteristically elaborate two-papore video. In the first section, he sneaks a lidar camera into disney’s Space Mountain to get a 3-D Scan of the Ride’s Design. In the Second-the segment that has drawn much more attention-he runs a series of tests pitting a lidar-eequipped test Vehicle against his tesla, which uses traditional cameras for its driver-driving resiliving features.

Rober’s Tesla Des Not Come Out Ahead. It fails to automatically brake in multiple scenarios where the lidar-eequipped Car SuCeeds, Thwarted by Thick Smoke, Heavy Spraying Water, and a Fake Road Superimposed on a foam wall. Getting A Self-Driving Car to Fall for A Wile E. Coyote Trap is a Pretty Good Bit, and Rober’s Video Was Hugely Popular with HIS 65 million YouTube followers and Beyond. It was also immediately controlsial, with critics arguing that the tests were unfairly Stacked Against Tesla and Suggesting that Rober, A NASA ENGINEER AND APPLE PRODUCT DESIGNER WHOE PASTED VIDEOS HAVE CONTAINDED misleading Material, Had Rigged the Result to make the Company Look Bad. Setting aside the Experiment’s Exact Results, the video is Clearly innded as a criticism of Tesla’s Choice to Move Away from Technologies Like Lidar-A “Fool’s Errand,” Accounting to Elon Musk-In favor of the relief Camera-Based Systems. Tesla’s Legion of Online Defenders Has Responded Accordingly. “Mark Rober * Just * Defrauded Tesla (Lawsuit Likely),” Reads the Headline of One Poppons Video. “Mark Rober JUST ENDED HIS CAREER,” READS ANOTHER.

But what one make -up of Rober’s Experiment, His Video Marks the Next Stage of a Subtle but SIGNIFICANT SHIFT ON YOUTUBE, A PLACE WHERE, IN DIFFERENT AND AGAKLY No LES SIGNIFICANT WAYS THAN TWITTER, The Reputations of Tesla and Musk Were Built. For Years, overlapping clusters of massively popular and science youtubers – Most of saying studiously apolitical, or at laast coy about their beliefs – have enjoyed a productive partnership partnership with musk’s Car Company, Sharing with their massive audiences in and ferand. This made sense: for relatively young audiences Interesting in Engineering and Science, Musk was a well-known and fairly accesible figure; For YouTubers Who Built Audiences Reviewing and Talking About Consumer Tech, gadgetlike and novelty-rich teslas were a great fit, nor natural a subject for their channels as new iPhones or vr headsets.

YouTuber Marques Brownlee, Known as MKBHD (Over 20 Million Combined Subscribers), interviewed Musk and Toured Tesla’s Fremont Factory in 2018, Later calling The Tesla Model s plaid “The best over the Last Decade” and USING ONE DAILY DRIVER. MKBHD Competitor Zack Nelson, AKA JUPRIGEGEVEWHYTHING (Over 9 Million Subscribers), Gradually Acqually Four Teslas and Made Videos with and About. For Tech Reviewers, Science Explainers, and Project YouTubers, Teslas Were a Rich Subject and Source of Engagement. Among an Influential Blob of YouTubers, They were Also the Default Car. Linus Sebastian, Who Runs Linus Tech Tips (Over 16 Million Subscribers), Incorporated Teslas into HIS Videos and Walked Subscribers Through HIS (Slightly Reluctant) Purchase. UNbox Therapy (Over 24 Million Subscribers) bought A model s plaid. Engineer Simone Giertz Chopped Her Tesla Int a “Brain”Poking gentle fun at the Company for Its Own delayed Truck Plans. For his part, rober, who used to do tesla for his new video, has spoken admiringly of musk on numerous occasions:

Tech YouTube’s Relationship with Musk Started to Fray with His Acquisition of Twitter in 2022, by Which Point Musk Had Become Divi in ​​Ways that MANY CAUTIOUS GENERAL-AUDIENCE YOUTUBERS SAW AS RISKY. By 2024, Musk’s Heel Turn Had manifested in Product form. YouTubers Swarmed the Release of the Cybertruck, Revisionwing and Buying The Tests and Stunts. Tesla Had Once Again Produced a Vehicle that was good for Engagement, and youtubers got a lot of it. Nelson shot His with a gun, while brownlee revolutionwed his and conflict it was “iconic” but Dangerously attention-grabbing. Elsewhere on YouTube, in a sign of the Things to come, Criticiticking and destroying cybertrucks Became a genre unto itself. Trollish Magan–dabbing YouTuber Cody Detwiler, AKA Whistlindiesel (Over 9 Million Subscribers), Subject the Cybertruck to One of His Over-The-Top “Durability Tests” that ended with a disabled and unusablely Hres and Earnest Words for Tesla. The video supplied Countless Mega-Viral Clips to Tiktok and Instagram Reels. (A Second Part Came Out two months Ago; A segment in Which Detwiler Ripped a Glued Metal Panel from the Truck with HIS Bare Hands ADEDED A Halt Sales for a Related Issue This Week.)

Musk is now of the Most polarizing People in the Country, Making It Difficult to Talk About Tesla’s Products – in the Context of a Gadget Channel – Without Addressing His Ownership. Brownlee, WHO sold His Plaid in Early 2024, Ditched His Cybertruck for a Rivian; Despite Efforts not to make too much of a spectacle of his choice, Musk took Notice:

Nelson, meanwhile, recently released a video in which he stress tests (and destroys) His Cybertruck – a video that, Like Rober’s, was criticized by fans, tesla, and musk for being unfair. Maybe SO, but it was revealing regardless: in 2024, getting your hands on a new cybertruck was a shortcut to massive Engagement; In 2025, Within The YouTube Economy, The Shortcut to Engagement Is destroying Your Cybertruck. (Nelson Has Since predged to get rid of all his teslas.)

Rober’s recent video isn’t explicitly anti-tesla and doesn’t call out musk, but it has ben widly perceived as though it is and dos. At the very least, it taps into an environment interest in and anger about its Owner – there’s a real chance that someone teslas, or tesla dealerships, are Smoldering As you read this – which is the sort of thing any sucesssful youtuber is acutely aware of and capable of exploration.

That a handful of loosely affiliated popular youtubers have adjusted their strategies Around Tesla May not be hugely Significant on its Own. But if we’re suddenly interestted in who young men are Listening to onlineYouTube’s Cheery and Mostly Politics-Averse Ecosystem of Tech and Science Personalities Should Be in the Conversation. Their intuitions about their influencial sector of the Attention Economy Say something. Tesla used to be good for Business. Now, it’s a little more complicated than that.