Well-known YouTube blogger Logan Paul has been dropped from Google’s premium ad service and lost his starring role in a web series following public outrage over one of his videos.
Paul, who has more than 15 million followers, was forced to apologise for and delete a video he posted recently of him and his friends in Japan joking around near the dead body of a man in a ‘suicide forest’.
So sorry. pic.twitter.com/JkYXzYsrLX
— Logan Paul (@LoganPaul) January 2, 2018
After a huge public outcry, YouTube has finally decided to remove Paul’s channels from Google Preferred, which enables advertisers to target 18 to 24-year-olds on the top YouTube channels.
YouTube has also decided to drop Paul from season 4 of Foursome, a YouTube Red original series which he has starred in for the first three seasons, and that his new video blogs would be put on hold.
Google’s video platform also issued an open letter via a series of tweets:
An open letter to our community:
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.
— YouTube (@YouTube) January 9, 2018
Like many others, we were upset by the video that was shared last week.
— YouTube (@YouTube) January 9, 2018
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.”
— YouTube (@YouTube) January 9, 2018
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.
— YouTube (@YouTube) January 9, 2018
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.
— YouTube (@YouTube) January 9, 2018
