Hiroyuki Slams Parents Who ‘Live Large on Their Kids’ Earnings’ — 5ch Fires Back: ‘Look Who’s Talking About Shame’

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The story

Hiroyuki posted on X about the wave of “family vlogger” channels — which document the daily lives of children and families — losing their monetization one after another. The trend is being driven by new laws protecting minors’ privacy, especially in Europe, and he called it “only natural,” branding parents who live lavishly off their children’s earnings a symptom of “Japanese society in decline.” On 5ch, while plenty agreed with the substance of his point, many posts zeroed in on the irony of a man who earns his own living by critiquing other people day after day lecturing anyone about “shame” — and others noted this is really just the old child-star setup repeating itself, not some new YouTube-era rot.

Mon, Nov 2, 5:45 PM

Hiroyuki, the entrepreneur and former administrator of the anonymous forum “2channel,” posted on X (formerly Twitter) by the 1st, addressing the wave of “family vlogger” channels losing their monetization.

“Family YouTuber” channels that broadcast the everyday lives of children and families have become popular content, but laws protecting minors’ privacy are advancing, particularly in Europe. As a result, a growing number of family channels in Japan are reportedly having their monetization cut too.

Source: news.yahoo.co.jp / Original article here

What people said

8AnonymousNov 2, 2026 22:11
Well, he's got a point there —
the parents are just too dumb.
9AnonymousNov 2, 2026 22:12
I haven't watched much amateur YouTube, but is blowing the ad money on unagi some kind of running gag? (unagi/eel = shorthand for splurging on a pricey treat)
10AnonymousNov 2, 2026 22:12
If you're going down that road, then gaming streams that are just raw gameplay, videos of friends goofing around, cat streams, urban-legend streams, haunted-ruins streams, unboxing streams — anything goes.
13AnonymousNov 2, 2026 22:14
Back in the day it was child actors earning money their parents spent — this is just the same thing that slid over to YouTubers. Calling it "Japanese society in decline" is a stretch though.
15AnonymousNov 2, 2026 22:14
Nobody's interested in some stranger's kid unless they're looking at it with a creepy eye.
16AnonymousNov 2, 2026 22:15
Snot-nosed, half-crying, bawling their eyes out —
we were just meeting demand because you lot kept going "so cute, so cute" and loving it.

Playing the righteous hero about it now is just sour grapes (´・ω・`)
17AnonymousNov 2, 2026 22:15
When you travel to Southeast Asia, the guide always tells you,
"Child street vendors will cling to you trying to sell dollar-store-tier trinkets as souvenirs — please never buy from them,"
doesn't he (´・ω・`)
23AnonymousNov 2, 2026 22:18
Re: #17 What century are you living in?
That was a thing when I traveled abroad 30 years ago (・ω・)
18AnonymousNov 2, 2026 22:16
Is it the same deal with child actors too?
20AnonymousNov 2, 2026 22:17
What's this guy getting so uptight about?
Who cares about the fine print.
21AnonymousNov 2, 2026 22:17
Honestly though, these streams are basically just TV from twenty years ago.
I don't get the mindset of anyone who actually enjoys watching this stuff.
33AnonymousNov 2, 2026 22:27
Re: #21
TV is nothing but deference to big corporations, the powerful, religious groups…
Do you actually believe them when they say
"we had no idea about the Johnny's scandal"?
22AnonymousNov 2, 2026 22:18
Guess Japan's become a country where even kids have to work just to get by.
25AnonymousNov 2, 2026 22:19
I don't disagree with what he's saying, but
is THIS the guy lecturing us about shame lol
26AnonymousNov 2, 2026 22:20
Only idiots who think their kids are their property pull this kind of thing.
27AnonymousNov 2, 2026 22:20
Regulating minors online is becoming the global norm now, so it's natural enough when you think about it.
28AnonymousNov 2, 2026 22:22
So what happens to child actors then?
Some of them rake in insane amounts of money —
how is that any different?
29AnonymousNov 2, 2026 22:23
Ever since he started writing a parenting column for SPA magazine, "Debate King" has been playing armchair parenting pundit —
but he never once mentions his own parenting experience, so it all feels pretty hollow.
30AnonymousNov 2, 2026 22:23
Mukbang, family vlogs, rage-bait channels, whatever —
they're way too slow pulling monetization lol, the big ones have already cashed in plenty.
31AnonymousNov 2, 2026 22:25
Kids who've been child actors since they were little are often surprisingly solid students, though.
32AnonymousNov 2, 2026 22:27
For family channels,
I watch Kiko Channel.
37AnonymousNov 2, 2026 22:32
Re: #32
Cheers~✨🍻🎶 (KP = net slang for "kanpai," i.e. "cheers")
34AnonymousNov 2, 2026 22:27
Oh no, so this is about Uchiyama-kun's parents, isn't it!! (a well-known family-vlog kid)
35AnonymousNov 2, 2026 22:30
Back before the birthrate decline, wasn't child labor just normal in Japan on farms and family businesses?
50AnonymousNov 2, 2026 22:57
No contract is more one-sided than being a YouTuber —
they can slash your rates or kill your monetization whenever they feel like it.
Future looks bleak.
75AnonymousNov 2, 2026 23:09
Re: #50
From the platform's side there's no real contract in place, so they can do whatever they want with you.
64AnonymousNov 2, 2026 23:02
Guess TV won't be able to use child actors anymore lol
67AnonymousNov 2, 2026 23:04
Re: #64
That's where AI comes in!
73AnonymousNov 2, 2026 23:08
Wait, is this just a Japan thing? Plenty of foreign videos use kids too —
is YouTube gonna cut their payouts as well?
77AnonymousNov 2, 2026 23:11
Re: #73
Exactly this.
There are plenty of family videos uploaded by foreigners too,
yet Hiroyuki goes on about "Japanese society in decline"
and "they don't even feel ashamed"…

And in the first place, Hiroyuki himself earns his living
by sticking his nose into other people's business day after day.
79AnonymousNov 2, 2026 23:15
TV has shows about big families, shows following married couples' lives, pet shows that put animals on camera too —
but he never complains about those.
Is that because badmouthing the TV industry
means the TV offers stop coming?
If you're going to criticize, criticize fairly.

Also, quit forcibly pinning what a handful of family YouTubers do
onto all of Japanese society.
It's ridiculous.

And seriously, why does every single Hiroyuki comment turn into a news article day after day?
It's annoying.
80AnonymousNov 2, 2026 23:18
Re: #79
Maybe quit it with the contrarian-for-contrarian's-sake arguments already.

Background and Key Points of This Debate

The halt in monetization for family vlog channels isn’t unique to Japan — it’s the fallout of laws protecting minors’ privacy and labor, such as the EU’s Digital Services Act, rippling into how platforms operate worldwide. The thread split along two lines: whether the claim itself is correct, and whether Hiroyuki has any standing to make it. While there was broad agreement with criticizing the setup of parents living off their children’s earnings, plenty of posts also mocked the irony of someone who earns a living day after day by passing judgment on other people’s behavior turning around to lecture anyone else about it. Others pointed out that this dynamic goes back to the era of child actors and isn’t some new problem unique to YouTube. Comments insulting a specific nationality or simply hurling abuse at Hiroyuki himself have been excluded from this writeup.

※This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Geinou/Sports News+) thread “Hiroyuki: Halting monetization of “family” streams is a “natural trend” — “A Japanese society in decline that doesn’t feel shame about parents eating unagi off their kids’ earnings”.”

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