YouTube has issued an open letter discussing vlogger Logan Paul‘s recent video featuring the body of a suicide victim, hinting at “further consequences” against the massively popular content creator.
Paul was widely criticised for the video, which saw him and several friends enter Japan’s Aokigahara forest, an area colloquially known as the ‘Suicide Forest’ due to a tragically high incidence of suicide attempts within its boundaries.
Upon discovering a victim’s body, Paul proceeded to make light of the situation, filming his own shocked reaction and joking about the circumstances.
Paul, who commands over 15 million subscribers on the platform, was labelled by viewers and other high-profile YouTubers as callous, careless, and in violation of basic human decency.
He removed the video, offered a series of apologies, and put himself on a content sabbatical. Until now YouTube itself had declined to offer any significant comment on the matter.
“Many of you have been frustrated with our lack of communication recently. You’re right to be,” the open letter says.
You deserve to know what’s going on.
Like many others, we were upset by the video that was shared last week.
Suicide is not a joke, nor should it ever be a driving force for views. As Anna Akana put it perfectly: “That body was a person someone loved. You do not walk into a suicide forest with a camera and claim mental health awareness.”
We expect more of the creators who build their community on YouTube, as we’re sure you do too. The channel violated our community guidelines, we acted accordingly, and we are looking at further consequences.
It’s taken us a long time to respond, but we’ve been listening to everything you’ve been saying. We know that the actions of one creator can affect the entire community, so we’ll have more to share soon on steps we’re taking to ensure a video like this is never circulated again.
It remains to be seen what those “consequences” could entail, but any significant action against Paul’s channel would likely be seen as a statement of intent. In addition to his huge follower count, Paul also stars in subscription service YouTube Red’s film The Thinning, making him a bona fide face of the platform.
Although YouTube states it “acted accordingly” to the video, a member of YouTube’s video flagging team stated that YouTube was alerted to its content before Paul took it down, and subsequently chose to leave it up without any restrictions.
Logan Paul’s video was reported and YouTube manually reviewed it; they decided to leave it up without even an age restriction… people who have re-uploaded it since have received strikes for graphic content. Ridiculous. pic.twitter.com/Hj9lyiQwE2
— Ben – Trusted Flagger (@TrustedFlagger) January 2, 2018
YouTube itself has been criticised in recent months for a string of problematic events. The so-called Adpocalypse saw brands pull their ads from YouTube videos seen as problematic; more recently, the platform has been forced to act on a huge number of channels churning out disturbing content aimed at very young audiences.
The culture of YouTube – and that of social media in general – has also been critiqued for rewarding content creators for chasing increasingly extreme footage, leading to events like this.
The Paul incident in particular seems like a reckoning point for YouTube, where it may have to move from simply hosting content to taking a more active moderation role. In any case, we’ll keep you posted.
If you or someone you know is dealing with mental illness, there are resources you can turn to including BeyondBlue (1300 22 4636), Kids Helpline (1800 55 1800), Suicide Call Back Service (1300 659 467) and Lifeline (13 11 14).
