The saga of Logan Paul in 2018 has been the biggest piece of YouTube drama to drop in quite a long time. The nature of his video filmed in Japan, portraying an apparent suicide victim, rubbed many the wrong way, brought a negative spotlight to YouTube‘s policies, and lost Paul some of the key monetary deals he had with the company.
He apologized for the act, but many it was enough to force him off the platform altogether. The apology seemed to be a turn for the former Vine star, but soon he posted another controversial video featuring animal cruelty and costing him YouTube ad support in the process. But none of this is enough to warrant him being completely kicked from YouTube according to CEO Susan Wojcicki on Monday. Paul still hasn’t hit his three strikes yet according to The Verge:
“He hasn’t done anything that would cause those three strikes,” Wojcicki said. “We can’t just be pulling people off our platform … They need to violate a policy. We need to have consistent [rules]. This is like a code of law…
“What you think is tasteless is not necessarily what someone else would think is tasteless,” she said. “We need to have consistent laws, so that in our policies, so we can apply it consistently to millions of videos, millions of creators.”
So Paul seems to be safe for the time being, but how long before another video pops up that offends viewers. Or how long before any video he releases causes trouble for someone and they flood YouTube with complaints. Some would say that Paul has damaged his reputation beyond repair, but YouTube must see something others don’t.
(Via The Verge)