“A Pure Product of the Algorithm”: Anyme, the Internet’s Most Meteoric Rise

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The 22-year-old influencer, still unknown to the general public less than a year ago, has exploded onto platforms in recent months, to the point of now being the most-watched French streamer on Twitch.

From an average of 200 viewers in May 2024 to 50,000 in June 2025, Anyme became the most-watched French streamer on Twitch last month. (DR)

It's almost a dictatorship that has taken hold on our TikTok and Instagram feeds. We scroll and scroll, and yet one and the same face always appears among the array of content creators. With a Colgate smile, diamond earrings, and the same beanie screwed onto his head, Anyme has been flooding the internet for several months with jokes, reactions, pranks, imitations, and disguises of all kinds. The phenomenon now peaks at 1.5 million subscribers on Twitch and 2.8 million on TikTok.

Yet, less than a year ago, the 22-year-old was still a complete unknown. Maxence Turlot, according to his birth certificate, only launched himself on social media "in 2023." The native of Liévin, in Pas-de-Calais, then began posting on the Chinese app. Anyme displays a range of memes and references to Internet culture, without this allowing him to stand out from the crowd. It doesn't matter. At that time, he was working part-time at McDonald's, struggling with money, and was simply looking for a refuge to escape loneliness from his modest apartment in Rennes.

Once he had his communications-marketing degree in his pocket, the content creator celebrated in December

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