February 2018

W February 2, 2018 entertainment 5
SOCIAL MEDIA MELTDOWN
LOGAN PAUL’S FIASCO IS JUST ONE OF
MANY PROBLEMS FACING YOUTUBE
Videos -- ranging from
children vomiting to
disturbing pranks on unsuspecting
victims, from
graphic images of beloved cartoon
characters to suicide victims discovered
after their deaths -- have created
a massive backlash for YouTube and
its owner, Google.
Connecting millions of people,
directly from creator to viewer, You-
Tube is seen as a great path to link
with an audience on a more personal
level than movies or TV shows. Yet,
YouTube has had to take action as
content creators have tried to work
around its content guidelines and
post hundreds of thousands of rulebreaking
videos.
In recent months, YouTube terminated
hundreds of well-known
accounts and removed more than
150,000 videos from the platform,
according to CNET. The site also
turned off comments on more than
625,000 videos targeted by alleged
child predators.
The negative side was further
brutally exposed
when content creator
Logan Paul uploaded a
video called ‘We found a dead body
in the Japanese Suicide Forest…’
which featured a victim in it. He
went into the Japanese Aokigahara
Forest (known as Suicide Forest),
and filmed a dead man, and if that
wasn’t enough, he posted the video
to YouTube.
Many viewers flagged it as inappropriate
content and demanded
that YouTube take immediate action.
“There’s no other reason for him
to go there than to catch a suicide
victim on video. That’s horrible,”
sophomore Sydney Schroeder said.
The video was seen worldwide, and
the backlash that followed prompted
Paul to delete the video and take
a break from YouTube, “to reflect,”
as he put it.
When advertisers
started pulling their
ads from Paul’s site,
it didn’t take long
for him to realize that his choice
to initially post the video was going
to cost him. In the end, it was
Paul who removed the video, not
YouTube. Sophomore Rylan Turner
said, “I think it would’ve been in the
company’s best interest to have manually
removed the video themselves
because of the topic of the video.”
YouTube instead put the offensive
video on the trending list — and
it sat there at #10. Users criticized
YouTube for further exploiting the
suicide victim for the sake of clicks
and ad revenue.
Junior Grace Carlino observed
that YouTube and its millions of
content creators aren’t using their
power wisely. “People that have a
wide audience have a platform to
encourage positive actions, but they
aren’t taking advantage of their position,”
she said.
How did Paul’s video end up
on the trending list? “I’ve definitely
seen videos that did eventually get
banned from Youtube that should
have never been put up because of
the restrictions,” Schroeder said.
Restrictions, however, may
need to be enforced by
humans rather than an
algorithm. “YouTube
should have more people manually
looking for videos that are too inappropriate
to be on the website,”
Turner said.
As for Paul, he tried to make
amends. He took a break from all
social media, along with deleting
the video and releasing an apology.
“He’ll just end up being known as
the guy who thought suicide was
okay to record,” Schroeder said.
Whether or not viewers will ever
enjoy and respect his work remains
unknown. “What would be nice is
to see if he is really sincere -- maybe
he makes donations to suicide prevention,
or he partners with them
BY JENNA ROBBINS
reporter
and does some promotion for suicide
prevention programs, maybe
even talking to younger kids about
what’s appropriate and what’s not
appropriate,” guidance counselor
Katelyn Pantke said.
Turner agreed, saying, “He
should use his power to speak out
against suicide and possibly towards
a suicide prevention program.” In
a further attempt to repair his image
and reconcile with his YouTube
audience, Paul recently pledged to
donate $1 million to organizations
that work to prevent suicide.
The video may have been
disrespectful and distasteful,
but improvements
may have come out of
it. “You can always turn a negative
into a positive. The backlash could
be momentum to bring attention
to the fact that suicide is still one of
the number one reasons youth die.
You could take the opportunity that
there’s attention on it now to highlight
warning signs; talk about how
depression is common,” Pantke said.
However, Carlino also sees it as a
way to teach others what not to do,
saying, “He showed others that your
content has to be acceptable for your
audience. Others should take this as
a sign to upload what is good for
their audience.”
Although Logan Paul made
an irreversible error, he may have
brought to light some important
topics of discussion. “It sparks a
good conversation about things
we do and say, and how they affect
other people. The things you post,
how does it affect other people? The
topics you are endorsing by posting
them, the people you could be hurting
by posting, it brings that to light
especially when you’re that popular.
You have a responsibility,” Pantke
said.
Similarly, “this experience should
be a reminder that you should look
at what you’re about to show the entire
internet, specifically millions of
viewers,” Turner said.
PREVIOUS LOGAN PAUL
CONTROVERSIES INCLUDE...
In October 2017, Paul was
arrested in Rome for flying a
drone too close to the
Colosseum. He shared his
experience with the law in a
video titled “I Got
Arrested By Italian Police!”.
In March 2017, Paul faked
his death in front of his fans.
With the help of his friends,
Paul “pranked” his fans by
pretending he got shot.
During his trip to Japan in
January of 2018, Paul talked
about respecting Japanese
culture, but then proceeded
to break merchandise in a
store and throw Pokeballs at
people.
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