Millennials had Vine. Gen Z has TikTok. And us awkward lot in between? We had those daft five-second videos that flooded our YouTube recommended in the late 2010s
This period that bridges the gap between the two video sharing sites produced many hits, but perhaps none as iconic as "I Can’t Believe You’ve Done This." Now, Zillennials can breathe a sigh of relief, as YouTube has reversed its deletion of the video after taking it down yesterday for supposedly breaching its violence policies.
Commenting on the takedown, the Team Youtube Twitter account said: "This was a mistake on our end and your video is back up. We’re so sorry about the frustration this caused & have shared feedback with the team to prevent similar mistakes in the future."
Having been on YouTube since 2007 and clocking in over 12 million views, it's possible that the team realized there was no actual point in taking it down - and a five-second shot of someone getting whacked as a joke was hardly going to encourage any dangerous behaviour. Now that it's back up you can watch it for yourself, and revel in its noughties video glory.
"I Can't Believe You've Done This" has successfully stood the test of time in a way almost no other meme has. Trends come and go, and we often end up cringing at anything more than a couple of weeks old - if it's not smothered in a billion layers of irony first at least. First uploaded when Lolcats were still a thing, it has survived through the Vine age, then the reign of the Important Videos playlist, and now TikTok. Apparently seeing a guy get sucker punched and firmly, yet calmly, state his confusion over the act just never gets old. And now - also unlike many other trends - it can boast that it survived YouTubes bizarre community guidelines enforcement.