PewDiePie vs. T-Series: YouTube battle for the most subscribed channel is on

Both channels have over 73 million subscribers
King: PewDiePie is hoping to stay top of the YouTube subscription charts
Roslan Rahman/AFP/Getty
Natasha Sporn3 December 2018

PewDiePie is locked in battle with Indian channel T-Series to retain his status as the most subscribed to YouTube channel.

The Swedish vlogger, real name Felix Kjellberg, currently holds the title on the video platform for his gaming videos.

But he is facing close completion from T-Series, the product of an Indian company which posts Bollywood trailers and songs.

Both currently have over 73 million subscribers, but online tracking tool Social Blade documents that the gap between the two is closing to under 500,000. The tool updates every second and is currently being streamed on YouTube.

Over the weekend, one ardent PewDiePie fan hacked into 50,000 printers worldwide to spread the world about Kjellberg’s channel and race to keep him at the top.

A message read: “PewDiePie, the currently most subscribed to channel on YouTube, is at stake of losing his position as the number one position by an Indian company called T-Series that simply uploads videos of Bollywood trailers and campaigns.”

The unsolicited printout urges people to “tell everyone they know” and features a “brofist”, a symbol associated with PewDiePie.

In a later video, the YouTuber thanked his fans for their support, but asked them not to break any laws in the battle for the crown.

He said: “All of this support to keep me on top is so funny. I love it. Please keep it up."

"But don't do anything illegal OK... because that will look bad on me.”

A social media user named TheHackerGiraffe later claimed responsibility for the hack, claiming it was a way to highlight printer security having accessed the list on an online directory of Internet-connected devices.

They told The Verge: “People underestimate how easy a malicious hacker could have used a vulnerability like this to cause major havoc.

“Hackers could have stolen files, installed malware, caused physical damage to the printers and even use the printer as a foothold into the inner network.

“The most horrifying part is: I never considered hacking printers before, the whole learning, downloading and scripting process took no more than 30 minutes.”

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