Internet Historian Plagiarism Accusations

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Overview

Internet Historian Plagiarism Accusations refers to a December 2023 video uploaded by Hbomberguy that accuses YouTuber Internet Historian of plagiarizing videos, which particularly highlights "Man In Cave" as its main example. The accusations of plagiarism regarding the content creator spread on social media in early December 2023 as people began to speak out against Internet Historian for his content, while others defended him amid the controversy.

Background

On December 2nd, 2023, YouTuber Hbomberguy uploaded a four-hour video^[1] titled "Plagiarism and You(Tube)." The video goes over several different examples of what Hbomberguy claims is plagiarism from various YouTube channels and creators, notably spending around 20 minutes in the middle talking about Internet Historian and his video titled "Man In Cave" (shown below). In the clip, Hbomberguy shows various examples of how Internet Historian's script for the video was allegedly copied from a July 13th, 2018, Mental Floss article written by Lucas Reilly, titled "The 1925 Cave Rescue That Captivated the Nation."^[4]

According to a Reddit post,^[7] Internet Historian's "Man In Cave" was purportedly removed from YouTube on May 5th, 2023, following a plagiarism strike, which was then subsequently reuploaded^[8] (shown below).

Online Reactions

Online, people were quick to either denounce Internet Historian or defend him from the accusations. For example, on December 2nd, 2023, X / Twitter user @cracklasers^[2] uploaded a picture of Michael Jordan holding a trophy from the I Used To Pray For Times Like This meme while captioning it as them being happy that Hbomberguy has attacked Internet Historian, receiving over 8,400 likes and 460 retweets in two days (shown below).

The following day, on December 3rd, defenders of Internet Historian began to push back against the accusations as they spread online. On X, user @Incognito_Aqua^[3] uploaded the audio sound effect of a crying baby while saying that the accusations against Internet Historian are overblown and that he did nothing wrong, garnering nearly 50,000 views, 130 likes and 30 retweets in 24 hours (shown below).

On December 4th, 2023, both "Internet Historian"^[5] and "Hbomb"^[6] notably reached Twitter's Trending section as the controversy continued to generate discourse into the following week.

The video and subsequent controversy it sparked regarding Internet Historian also spread on platforms like Reddit in early December 2023. For example, discussions on subreddits such as /r/OutOfTheLoop^[10] and /r/youtubedrama^[11] garnered thousands of upvotes and comments each within just a few days. On December 2nd, Redditor freedomfighter-alt posted a George Bush Learning About 9/11 meme to /r/196,^[9] garnering over 4,300 upvotes and 2,600 comments in two days (seen below).

HBomberguy vs. James Somerton Plagiarism Scandal

HBomberguy vs. James Somerton Plagiarism Scandal refers to YouTuber Hbomberguy's takedown of fellow YouTuber in a December 2023 video titled, "Plagiarism and You(Tube)." Somerton, a YouTube essayist who primarily discusses LGBTQ+ representation in popular media, was the primary focus of a nearly 4-hour-long video that also criticized YouTubers like Internet Historian and Illuminaughtii for repackaging work created by other writers without providing adequate citations. Somerton shut down his social media handles and Patreon the day after the video was released, however, his YouTube channel is still active with the comments turned off as of December 4th, 2023.