Fidias, YouTuber Best Known For Controversial Pranks And Clickbait Crimes, Has Been Elected To European Parliament

In what will surely make for an epic thumbnail one day, controversial YouTube prankster Fidias, full name Fidias Panayiotou, has been elected to the European Union Parliament from the Republic of Cyprus.

The 24-year-old Fidias, who has 2.6 million subscribers, is arguably best known globally for his controversies, including dodging Japanese police as he attempted to use the country's public transit system "for free" and posting a widely criticized thumbnail with African children for a video in which he spends "100 Hours In The World's Poorest Country."

Fidias ran as an independent candidate with no political agenda or positions. He said he had never voted. He didn't spend any money on advertising nor post any videos about his political candidacy on YouTube. Nevertheless, he gained 19.4 percent of votes in Cyprus, coming in third overall, and will join four other Cypriots who were elected to the EU Parliament.

When he declared his candidacy in April, Fidias said he wanted to stick it to the "nerds" in Brussels – the home of the European Parliament – but admitted his goal was not to get elected but to motivate young people to get into politics.

Now that he's officially a politician, he's begun using his Twitter / X account to discuss his future at Parliament.

Τι να ρωτήσω την Υπουργό Παιδείας? pic.twitter.com/jP79TfM405

— Fidias Cyprus (@FidiasCyprus) June 13, 2024

Others expressed shock that Cyprus elected the controversial YouTuber. Cyprus Mail argued that Fidias' election signaled the populace's frustration with the state of the country's political parties.

It is unclear what he will attempt to accomplish in Parliament, nor how his election will affect his YouTube upload schedule.