YouTube Finally Addresses Logan Paul’s ‘Suicide Forest’ Video And Takes Him To Task, But Offers No Punishment

Logan Paul

Logan Paul showed just how far someone will go in order to get hits on YouTube last week. Wandering into Japan’s notoriously heartbreaking Aokigahara forest, which is known as a spot where people go to kill themselves, Paul showed a man hanging from a tree, giggled, looked astonished, then joked about it to his nearby friends and fellow travelers. Including telling some kids in the parking lot to “not go over there” while laughing.

The backlash was swift, and Paul took the video down after it amassed a huge amount of views and hit the no. 10 trending spot on YouTube, where Paul posts daily and is one of the platform’s biggest stars. He apologized (twice), and now, after a week of silence, YouTube has responded in a strongly-worded five-tweet thread:

YouTube’s statement that they “acted accordingly” is what’s truly being focused on in this series of tweets. Not only did YouTube not take the video down, despite it violating their guidelines: “it’s not okay to post violent or gory content that’s primarily intended to be shocking, sensational, or disrespectful,” but people are wondering why Paul’s channel is still up.

Additionally, Paul’s fans (and some detractors) continue to re-upload the video, showing the full scene in the guise of a “reaction video,” which is using YouTube’s rules against them.

So far, the critiques toward YouTube could become moot if they decide to take more tangible action against one of their biggest stars.

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