A duel of French Youtubers

France's top YouTuber reflects the country's youth: right-wing-leaning and proud of its identity.

By Hélène de LAUZUN

For several weeks now, France's two most famous YouTubers, known as Squeezie and Tibo InShape, have been locked in a fierce virtual war. Behind the duel between these two men lie two trends that divide French youth: progressivism versus identity.

The two men have been neck and neck on the web for months-with tens of millions of subscribers each on their YouTube channels. A few weeks ago, influencer Tibo InShape officially took over from Squeezie as the number one influencer in France, with over 19 million followers. For the moment, the balance seems to tip in favour of Tibo, who, behind his stainless smile and athletic physique, unabashedly admits to loving his country above all else. Is it going to last? We can only hope so.

The 32-year-old native of Toulouse, from where he has retained a discreet, lilting accent, has made a name for himself by posting a wide range of content on his channel on the subjects of sport, well-being, and self-improvement, with an engaging tone and infectious good humour that have enabled him to win over an ever-widening circle of listeners.

Although his initial speciality was bodybuilding, Tibo InShape has broadened his interests over the months, shooting short reports on unexpected subjects. After taking an interest in boxing, he went on to shoot clips with Cistercian nuns, soldiers in the Foreign Legion, and rugby players.

Tibo, whose real name is Thibaud, loves a challenge, and by virtue of a furiously postmodern but nonetheless sympathetic ethic, claims to be 'no-holds-barred'-which means he can talk with the same naturalness to a young nun or an amateur porn producer. Some of his immersive videos have been wildly successful on the web, such as the one of his visit to the Little Sisters of Boulaur, in the Gers department, which has racked up over  YouTube . You can see him wandering from the chapel to the fields, and naively gathering answers from the young consecrated women who explain to him with angelic smiles that they have given their lives to Christ.

With references like these, Tibo InShape has gradually built up a solid reputation among young French right-wingers, who have found in him an unexpected and sympathetic spokesman. But he doesn't just speak to these small, already-convinced circles. His frank outlook and natural tone-without the slightest prejudice-have enabled millions of viewers to discover hitherto unsuspected realities: the consecrated life as well as military commitment, service to others, and self-sacrifice.

His success stems from his personal branding and open-mindedness. Tibo InShape looks for his sources of inspiration everywhere, including and especially where he is least expected, in circles and communities usually off the media radar. And this has worked incredibly well for him. As we watch his videos, we discover a passionate character who is not afraid to assert with serenity some ideas that are currently frowned upon or even banned. Tibo InShape passionately loves his country, France, its traditions, and its culture.

It didn't take much for the labels of 'fascist' and 'racist' to be attached to him, thanks to some skilfully orchestrated polemics, such as the world of digital opinion has a penchant for. For several months now, the left-wing press has been trying to dig up allegedly 'homophobic' or 'Islamophobic' comments from the web archives. In an indictment published online in February 2024, the Blast news channel accused him of spreading "nationalist" and "reactionary" ideas. The channel's columnist, Usul, dismantled the Youtuber's 'techniques': "Tibo's genius lies in always being on the edge, pleading good faith. He's invented a new way of being a fascist on the Internet."

The attack didn't go down too well with Thibaud, who announced that he was lodging a complaint against the channel and pledged to donate "any money potentially earned to an association that helps the war-wounded or families who have lost a loved one who died for France"-a based choice that could obviously only make his case worse in the eyes of the left-wing censors.

The tense political climate in France since the European elections and the announcement of the dissolution of the National Assembly has reignited the war between Tibo InShape and Squeezie.

Squeezie, whose real name is Lucas Hauchard, also from the southwest of France, had remained at the top of the YouTube rankings for almost five years, before being edged out by Tibo InShape on Sunday, May 26th. Since then, tensions have been running high. In the run-up to the early parliamentary elections due to be held at the end of June, Youtuber Squeezie officially took the floor, along with other well-known media personalities, artists and sportsmen and women, to condemn the Rassemblement National and call for resistance against 'the far right.' This stance was not to the taste of all his subscribers and was followed by a wave of unsubscribes.

For his part, Tibo InShape was careful 𝕏 not to give any voting instructions and simply encouraged his subscribers to "go and vote" and "try to understand each other," while asking themselves what impact a particular vote would have on the lives of the people they love-which some interpreted as cryptic support for the RN. Since then, Tibo InShape has continued to rack up new subscriptions and crossed the 20 million mark.

According to Fabrice Epelboin, a lecturer at Sciences Po Paris and a specialist in social networks, Tibo InShape's success can be explained quite simply by its ability to speak to young people in France today, and to reflect their image: "rather right-wing, with values that are more in keeping with their identity."

Unlike Squeezie, who also defines himself as an artist, Tibo's choice of editorial line is almost that of a journalist. He investigates, meets people, and gets them to talk. He thinks and acts like an entrepreneur, and that's enough to put him on the Right.

A few days ago, in  YouTube for the web magazine Brut, he had his political coming out. "To be honest, I do think I'm right-wing," he declared. "But human." Thank God. He even considers he could become Minister of Sports if he were asked to-whatever the colour of the government, but we assume he certainly has some preferences.

His initial success came from his ability to motivate young people and inspire them to believe in life and its surprises. If that energy is put to good use in the service of the love of France, what more could we ask for? In Tibo's own words, let's say: "Go forward, Team Shape!"

Là on est bien ! pic.twitter.com/7n5q4KOfEE