One of the most popular content creators on YouTube is Logan Paul, famous for his videos that use much in the way of shock humor. As of February 14, he has over 16 million subscribers, most of which are young teenagers.
Following the controversy from his “suicide forest” video from last month, Paul is once again facing controversy and backlash from fans and media.
Paul has been on a hiatus from posting any videos on the platform until last week when he uploaded a video of him using a taser gun on a dead rat. He shoots the dead rat more than once with the taser, while laughing and making jokes. He then proceeded to remove a live fish from water and perform CPR on it.
The internet was again taken aback by Paul’s actions, questioning his morals and wondering if he realizes the influence he has on young people. Following this, monetized ads were suspended from Paul’s YouTube account.
Paul reportedly earned between $28,000 to $450,000 from ad revenue from YouTube in the past month.
Even though YouTube temporarily suspended the monetized ads appearing on his videos, there are still thousands of people upset that Paul’s channel has not been banned from the platform. Not only are people upset at Paul for acting immature, but also at YouTube for not stepping in and taking care of the situation immediately.
When asked about the Paul situation, the CEO of YouTube, Susan Wojcicki said,“He hasn’t done anything that would cause those three strikes.”
According to the YouTube help page, under the Community Guidelines strike basics it says, “Community Guidelines strikes are issued when our reviewers are notified of a violation of the Community Guidelines. This includes but is not limited to videos that contain nudity or sexual content, violent or graphic content, harmful or dangerous content, hateful content, threats, spam, misleading metadata or scams.”
Previously Paul faced backlash from his video released last December that focused on his trip in Japan. In this video he was in the forest, Aokigahara, which is located near Mt. Fuji. This is known as the “suicide forest,” where many people have gone to take their own life.
He and his companions discovered someone who had committed suicide and took extensive footage, showing the hands and face and making jokes about it. In the thumbnail of the video was an image of the suicide victim.
Paul also mentions that there are young children near the entrance of the forest and notified the police before the children saw what happened.
Paul’s video took the community by shock and he received negative backlash from actors, fellow YouTubers and his followers. There have been hundreds of response videos, not only from American YouTubers, but from Japanese creators as well.
The video got over 9 million views before he deleted it. The company then suspended his YouTube Red paid projects and removed him as a “preferred ad partner.”
Later, he posted another video where he apologized, saying he was trying to raise awareness for suicide and suicide prevention.
He also personally apologized to the family of the victim in the “suicide forest.” He was in an interview for Good Morning America, where he again expressed his apologies to his fans.
Another example of YouTubers facing consequences for their actions occurred last year. PewDiePie, the most subscribed to channel on YouTube, generated controversy by saying the n-word in a live stream.
“PewDiePie,” real name Felix Kjellberg, apologized for the video that sprung the controversy, but not without consequence. As a result, YouTube canceled the second season to his YouTube Red series “Scare PewDiePie.”
While Paul faces consequences for his most recent videos, there could be additional potential backlash in the following weeks, especially if he uploads more controversial community guideline violating content in the future.
Paige Rogers
Reporter