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Deji accused of YouTube subscriber botting, denies allegations

Did Deji Olatunji use YouTube subscriber botting to get past 10 million? The evidence is a bit unclear.

First Published May 18, 2020, 11:14

Deji accused of YouTube subscriber botting, denies allegations

Twitch isn't the only platform with drama, as famous YouTuber Deji Olatunji has been accused of subscriber botting to get past 10 million subscribers.

Deji first reportedly faked an illness to delay his 10 million subscriber number milestone, which still isn't up on his channel. Since he hit the milestone, accusations surrounding his success have started to pour in.

Read more: Twitch council member faces backlash after calling for voice chat to be removed

Did Deji use YouTube subscriber botting?

On the forefront of the accusations is British YouTuber Pierce "Kavos" Kavanagh, who says he has 100% proof his fellow countryman, Deji, used YouTube subscriber botting to get to the 10 million subscriber milestone.

In the video below, Kavos explains how, over the course of five days, Deji's subscribers went up by 10,000 a day to break the 10 million subscriber milestone. Further, it was explained this was done without a big change in his daily view stats.

Then, Kavos proceeded to show receipts from FreewaySocial, directly from the owner of the website, apparently showing Deji purchased 50,000 subscribers via botting for $2,000.

In the video, the owner of FreewaySocial, Thomas Glendou, explains: "Many were wondering how did Deji get those 50,000 YouTube subscribers and reach 10 million subscribers milestone.

"I can confirm that he bought those subscribers, and I can confirm that because he bought them from FreewaySocial.com, which is run by me."

The video then proceeds to show PayPal receipts, as well as the backend of the Freeway Social website.

The evidence is clearly stacked against Deji, but did he actually use YouTube subscriber botting?

Deji denies subscriber botting allegations

Deji has come out to deny the subscriber botting allegations, saying things don't add up. Further, he asked other content creators to leave him alone, and even threatened legal action against FreewaySocial.

Deji said in a statement: "I’ve never heard of [FreewaySocial] ever. He leaked an IP address claiming it was mine, but it’s not. I don’t owe you any money. I don’t know who the f**k you are. If you want to go legal with this, I’m 100% down."

While there's a lot of evidence reportedly stacked against Deji, there is something going in his favour. On the alleged PayPal receipts, it seems his brother's name, YouTuber KSI, was used instead of his own.

Look at the name of who paid “olajide olatunji” that is KSI’s name not Deji’s? The guy who made this mixed up their names when making a fake account pic.twitter.com/spyVjXGxY0
— TheBoyBecks (@theboybecks) May 18, 2020

Deji continued further, stating: "They always somehow find a way to link my brother [KSI] into this, and it’s just so f**king annoying. I have no knowledge of any of this. This is so bizarre. I just want to be left alone."

This could all have a serious impact on Deji's channel, and therefore his income, as it is against YouTube’s Fake Engagement Policy. This policy prohibits content creators from “artificially increasing the number of views, likes, comments or other metrics.”