Some social media users compared the idea to the dystopian TV series Black Mirror.

Image courtesy of X account @soren_iverson

On June 13, 2024, X user @soren_iverson posted an image showing a purported new YouTube feature where advertisements are replayed on its platform if users look away from their phone or computer screens.

The picture contained a phone with the video sharing platform open and a message on the screen reading: “Please maintain eye contact for the duration of the ad. Since you looked away, you’ll need to rewatch from the beginning. Restart ad.”

Iverson captioned the image: “YouTube rewatch the ad if you look away.”

Iverson’s post had amassed more than 15.1 million views at the time of this writing.

One X user asked whether the concept was real, while another said the alleged proposal would be “terrible.”

On TikTok, multiple content creators appeared to believe the new feature was legitimate.

However, the Orwellian concept was not based in reality. Soren Iverson has previously stated multiple times on X he creates daily satirical designs.

He also made the same disclaimer on his website.

Because this post came from an author whose work was described as satirical, we rated this claim as “Labeled Satire.”

According to a profile of Iverson for Business Insider in June 2023, he was a Los Angeles-based product designer at Cash App.

He designed similarly satirical images, such as Gmail offering an option to file a restraining order as a reply, ChatGPT referring you to a therapist when your questions get too personal, and Apple Health indicating if a friend is lying when mentioning being sick.

Snopes has addressed Iverson’s quirky concepts on several occasions before.