Operation YouTube

2009eventclassic

Published September 20, 2026

Operation YouTube, also called YouTube Porn Day, was a coordinated raid on May 19, 2009 in which 4chan and eBaum's World users flooded YouTube with adult clips disguised under kid-friendly tags like 'Jonas Brothers' and 'Hannah Montana'. The stunt drew BBC and Guardian coverage within 24 hours and birthed the enduring catchphrase 'I'm 12 Years Old and What is This?'

4chan memestrolling memescatchphrase memeslate 2000s memesbait and switch memes

Overview

Operation YouTube was a pre-planned spam raid rather than a single meme image. Participants uploaded pornographic video clips to YouTube that opened with roughly 30 seconds of innocuous footage of teen idols like Hannah Montana and the Jonas Brothers before cutting to explicit adult content, a bait-and-switch designed to slip past the site's user-flagging moderation1. Videos were tagged with the code word 'marblecake' so raiders could find each other's uploads, and rumors put the total in the tens of thousands over 24 hours1.

The raid produced one lasting artifact beyond the shock value: the catchphrase 'I'm 12 Years Old and What is This?' spread from a YouTube comment left on one of the uploaded clips, which the BBC quoted on air the next day3. The line is still used as a reaction to disturbing or age-inappropriate material posted where a child might see it.

Origin & Background

Platform
eBaum's World / 4chan (viral spread)
Creator
Unknown
Date
2009

According to Encyclopedia Dramatica's account, the idea was floated on eBaum's World's /p3rn/ board in May 2009 when a member asked what would happen if porn were uploaded to YouTube en masse3. On the night of May 19, 2009, users of eBaumsworld and 4chan's /b/ board began the coordinated push, tagging clips with the code word 'marblecake' so participants could track each other's uploads3. One raider told the BBC the motivation was retaliation for YouTube's copyright takedowns of music videos, quoted as 'I did it because YouTube keeps deleting music. It was part of a 4Chan raid'1.

How It Spread

Within hours of the May 19 upload push, YouTube began stripping the 'marblecake' tag, so raiders on 4chan's /k/ board switched to decoy tags including 'swine flu,' 'twilight,' and 'jonas brothers' to keep clips discoverable3. eBaumsworld users muddied the response further by mass-flagging innocent videos to overwhelm YouTube's review queue3.

Mainstream press picked up the story fast. The Independent reported that clips ran into the tens of thousands and were disguised with footage of 'favourite children's entertainers'1, and a wire report syndicated via Free Republic added that Google spokesman Scott Rubin told Ars Technica the deleted videos were no longer viewable but thumbnails might linger for days2. BBC, The Guardian, PC World, CNET, and Maximum PC ran their own coverage3.

A second wave hit on January 6, 2010, reportedly launched by 4chan in retaliation for YouTube suspending the account of eight-year-old vlogger Lukeywes1234, who fell below the site's minimum age of 133. This round leaned harder on teen-idol thumbnails to bait clicks before the explicit cut3.

How to Use This Meme

Operation YouTube is now a historical reference rather than a template. Writers cite it as shorthand for early Anonymous-era raids, and the derivative catchphrase 'I'm 12 and what is this?' is still deployed as a reply to unexpectedly graphic or off-color posts.

Frequently Asked Questions