Almost a week after Logan Paul posted a video of a suicide victim on his channel, YouTube has finally made a public statement about the controversy.
In a series of tweets, YouTube stated that "(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 statement went on, pointing out that Logan Paul's video "violated our community guidelines, we acted accordingly, and we are looking at further consequences." All well and good, of course, except for the fact that YouTube didn't pull the video down and Logan Paul only did it when the backlash against it reached such a fever pitch.
Logan Paul apologised - with monetisation on one apology video - and has since said that he's taking "time to reflect" on his actions. Not surprisingly, YouTube's statement on the controversy has been sharply criticised,
How did y'all "act accordingly"? Y'all had it trending? Y'all didn't even take it down, it was Logan himself that took the video down? You gave creators strikes for even mentioning the incident. And what have you done to Logan for his violations? I'm sorry but this is ridiculous
— Ken3 (@Ken3_Art) January 10, 2018
They have genuinely done nothing at all, they didn't even delete the video, logan did. It was still monotized and he hasn't gotten as much as a strike. Now they go flying to twitter with this cookie cutter "foot down" message trying to take the moral high ground.
— Royal | NotePattle (@notepattle) January 10, 2018
You can read YouTube's full statement here.
Via Twitter