Oliver Bahl Franke, better known online by his initials OBF, is a Danish YouTuber known for his videos on various global feats and endeavors.
Content[]
OBF creates content mainly surrounding geographic, economic, and environmental topics around the world.
History[]
OBF created his channel on December 6, 2014. He would not begin his current YouTube career until 2020, though. He uploaded his first video on July 27, 2020.[1] His channel did not gain much traction initially.
OBF would begin to find success in late 2020, when some videos he uploaded talking about Tesla would gain hundreds of thousands of views.
On November 3, 2021, OBF uploaded a video on his thoughts on why the United States of "terribly designed". This video quickly became vastly successful, gaining over 4 million views within the first month of its existence.
Controversy[]
In 2021–2022, allegations came that OBF plagiarized many of his videos from content creators like Top Luxury, The Infographics Show, Johnny Harris, Vox, RealLifeLore, Kento Bento, Real Engineering, Kurzgesagt – In a Nutshell, neo, Faultline and Not Just Bikes.[2] The allegations first came to light in November 2021, with neo, a content creator who allegedly also got his videos plagiarized, explaining that "most of the research and content [in his videos] are copied".[3] Not Just Bikes quote-tweeted neo's tweet, saying that "[OBF] has been using [his] content as well. Credited, but not licensed, and he never asked for permission first."[4] The same allegations were added upon in Faultline's video essay Why All Education Videos Are the Same.
On October 21, 2022, OBF responded in the comments of Faultline's video, claiming that he "[has] never seen [Faultline's] channel before and also haven't modelled [his] video or thumbnail after [his]", also saying he "[didn't understand] copyright properly." and that he now "[credits] all sources".[5]
Channel milestones[]
Subscriber milestones[]
- 1,000 subscribers: November 25, 2020
- 10,000 subscribers: January 8, 2021
- 100,000 subscribers: August 3, 2021
Video view milestones[]
- 1 million video views: February 18, 2021
- 10 million video views: August 30, 2021
References[]
- ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1VC5LBEUYxU
- ↑ Faultline: Why All Educational Videos Are the Same
- ↑ neo on Twitter: "Another instance of plagiarism on YouTube. It's not just this video but a large number of OBF uploads."
- ↑ Not Just Bikes on Twitter: "This guy has been using my content as well. Credited, but not licensed, and he never even asked for permission first. I had NO idea it was this blatant from others though. Damn."
- ↑ Comment by OBF under Why All Educational Videos Are the Same: "This is a really well-made video Faultine, and thank you for making it. It's no secret that I've made a lot of mistakes here on YouTube, and big ones at that. I completely understand where other creators are coming from, it's not a great feeling when others plagiarise your content. I struggle with the fact that I've done this to other creators, and for not understanding copyright properly. So I've done everything to better myself and make sure it simply will not happen again. As you pointed out in the video I list and credit all sources now. I've also allied myself with people much better at research, writing, editing and animations than I am. It's the reason we're able to make a fair amount of videos and still keep the necessary quality in both scriptwriting and editing. I really want to do better and it hurts me to see that you feel I've wronged you as well. I can assure you I've never seen your channel before and also haven't modelled my video or thumbnail after yours. But since my credibility is hurt, I would love to have a chat with you about this so I can properly hear your persepctive. Lastly, I just want to say I'm open to discuss it with all creators who feel I've wronged them in some way. I want to do what I can to understand where they are coming from, and what mistakes I've made so I can try to solve them. Also, you said you reached out to me which I was confused by but I just checked my Twitter and can see you wrote there... (I don't check my Twitter dm's)"