I just received an official statement from a contact at @Youtube regarding the outrage and controversy around Logan Paul’s (now self-removed) “We found a dead body” top trending Youtube video.
“Our hearts go out to the family of the person featured in the video. YouTube prohibits violent or gory content posted in a shocking, sensational or disrespectful manner. If a video is graphic, it can only remain on the site when supported by appropriate educational or documentary information and in some cases it will be age-gated. We partner with safety groups such as the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline to provide educational resources that are incorporated in our YouTube Safety Center.”
DeFranco’s followers were quick to point out its lack of any real meaning or substance, to which DeFranco agreed.
Pathetic statement from @TeamYouTube. You demonetize most of my content within minutes of setting it live yet you allowed a video containing someone’s dead body hanging from a tree to be up for a full day- it even made it to trending… 6.5M people saw it. DO BETTER @YOUTUBEpic.twitter.com/B8UQQfFZOY
Although Paul’s video is no longer on his channel, it was not YouTube who removed it — as many netizens noted, his video was promoted by YouTube, even monetized, before Paul self-deleted the infamous VLog.
youtube promoted Logan Paul’s video and let it on to the top 10 on the trending page while creators creating creative and original content are getting discouraged and demonitized because of them saying ‘shit’, @YouTube wus good
logan paul posted a video featuring a literal dead man and it gets PROMOTED by youtube, yet today EVERY video I’ve made in the last 3months has been demonetised? lmaooooowhydoIbother pic.twitter.com/zypZmFGRYm
Others pointed to the seemingly preferential treatment YouTube is giving Paul.
Exactly! It’s because LP and his brother are the golden boys of the platform. They can do no wrong. If Felix gets backlash for saying the n word, LP should get the same treatment for exploiting a suicide victim.
Exactly, YouTube had a chance to back one of their own with Felix, and they didn’t. Over obvious jokes. But they’re barely responding to what their precious Logan did
YouTube is not the only corporation being asked for a statement — according to BuzzFeed, previous partners, such as HBO and Disney, are being asked to comment on the matter.
“A spokesperson for HBO said Logan did a Game of Thrones-related ‘marketing promotion’ on Vine for the network ‘years ago.’
‘But we have not worked with him since nor do we have plans to,’ the spokesperson said.
A spokesperson for Virgin Mobile said, ‘While we did work with Logan Paul on one Vine video back in early 2014, we have not worked with him since and have no plans to in the future. As such, social media posts that express his views, opinions and content have nothing to do with Virgin Mobile.'”
What do you think of YouTube’s response? Let us know in the comments!
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