by Vikram Bala ’20, Staff Writer

If you spend enough time on YouTube, you probably have heard of the Paul brothers, Logan and Jake. Both brothers, who create vlog (video log) style content on Google’s platform, YouTube, have recently grown a large fan base mostly comprised of teenagers. Many other YouTubers like the Paul brothers arrived on YouTube last year after Vine shut down. Jake Paul gained significant attention from his song entitled “It’s Everyday Bro,” which now has over 171 million views. Unlike his brother, Logan gained most of his fanbase as a Viner, and took many of his fans with him after Vine ceased operation. Both brothers have been involved with controversy and run-ins with the law. This comes at a time when YouTube is becoming increasingly restrictive of what content is monetizable, due to pressure from advertisers. Pewdiepie (Felix Kjellberg), who runs the most-subscribed-to channel on YouTube, faced criticism after the Wall Street Journal ran a report accusing him of creating anti-Semitic content (1). This lead to YouTube ending his YouTube RED series, Scare Pewdiepie (YouTube RED is a premier subscription-based service like Patreon that delivers exclusive content to viewers from popular channels). With many channels starting to produce 10 minute content in order to make more money per view, tension and frustration toward YouTube was building up. On December 31st, 2017, Logan Paul uploaded a video entitled, “We found a dead body in the Japanese Suicide Forest.”

The video stayed up for almost a day, before it was taken down by Paul. When questioned about his intentions, Paul explained, “I thought I could make a positive ripple on the internet.” While the motive behind the video and whether or not it was a stunt is still being debated, the question of whether the content was appropriate appears to have a unanimous answer: it was not. The video features Logan strolling along in the forest with a tour guide and cracking jokes at bodies he found along the way. Many took to Twitter, calling out Logan Paul for the video. After almost a week, YouTube came out with a statement, “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.” Many attacked YouTube, asking how such content was able to be posted and stay posted for almost a day before being taken down. Logan lost his rights to Google’s Preferred advertising platform which allows channels to make more money and gives business the opportunity to advertise on the top 5% of channels. YouTube faced pressure from its advertisers, who didn’t want their business to be promoted alongside inappropriate content. For many, one question remains: Why did somebody think it was appropriate to post such a video?

After the video was taken down, Logan took to Twitter, explaining that he was trying to send a positive message, although the message received by most viewers was evidently the opposite. Prank content takes up a large space on YouTube, and is extremely popular among YouTube’s target audience (15-34 year olds), which explains why Logan posted the video. Oliver Adelson ‘21 responds: “It is really quite a shame that somebody that so many people look up to has behaved this way.” From Vitalyzdtv to Remi Gaillard, internet pranksters have become increasingly popular among the younger audience, sometimes risking their life to perform the most daring of stunts. It seems that every previous prank needs to be “one-upped” in order to keep viewers watching.

While this content might be entertaining to viewers, the pranks do have consequential effects in real life. Inappropriate content not only speaks badly for one YouTuber, but speaks for the whole website. Regardless of Logan Paul, the future of YouTube will be what influential and popular YouTubers make it to be.

(1) https://www.wsj.com/articles/disney-severs-ties-with-youtube-star-pewdiepie-after-anti-semitic-posts-1487034533