Ask Lemmygrad

The camera and editing software are a negligible part of the means of production, you can get the former for cheap and the latter for free. The video being distributed, watched, liked, generating profit, and making a cut for the creator foremost depends on the vast digital infrastructure, on the data centres and software that Youtube, and only it, commands. This creates clear leverage of Youtube over the creator, which can be used to threaten and punish them in various ways. Youtubers are functionally employees or subcontractors of Youtube, and therefore proletarian.