As a content creator, a small one at that, I’m constantly trying to come up with ways to attract new viewers and subscribers. It’s not easy but I do enjoy it. So you can imagine my frustrating when larger YouTubers do some reckless behavior that ultimately impacts everyone on the platform. We had one in 2017 with PewDiePie and now Logan Paul has taken up the mantle to basically screw us over.
A few days ago, YouTube finally responded to the Logan Paul disaster that took place few days prior. In that statement they said:
Many of you have been frustrated with our lack of communication recently. You’re right to be. 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.
See, this has me extremely worried as a content creator. I mean look at what they did after PewDiePie dropped the N-bomb. They introduced a new system that literally punishes content creators so severely that many have opted to leave the platform to get a 9-5 job. Not only that, the Age-restriction mechanic also makes it so that if your video gets that “yellow dollar sign” icon, you can kiss any type of traffic that could have gone your way goodbye. Once you get hit with that shit, YouTube algorithm or bot is programmed to stop promoting your content until the icon is gone. But by then you’ve already lost any traction you could’ve gotten.
Meanwhile, you have YouTubers/Content Creators who’ve just learned that in order to grow on YouTube, they gotta do some extreme stuff like Logan to get view. In fact, there’s already a creator who actually went to the Suicide forest, a day after Logan got called out on it, just to gain views. He had a thumbnail similar to Logan and everything. This is all thanks to Logan irresponsible behavior. And don’t even get me started on his fans. All of this is making YouTube look extremely bad to the world and to advertisers and trust me, these advertisers are ready and willing to pull out at anytime.
So now you can see why I’m worried about how YouTube is gonna deal with this PR mess. Every time YouTube tries to fix something, they end up making it worse for the creators on the platform. They are a business and to make a profit, they will do whatever is necessary to stay profitable, even if it means hurting the creators
Fellow content creator, MatPat made a video called It’s Time to STOP the Logan Paul Loophole (MatPat Reaction), suggesting ideas on how YouTube could improve their platform without hurting their content creators, while also expressing his concerns for the change to come.
I’m worried for the future of this platform and the actions that YouTube is going to take to address this mess.
