Shame on You YouTube

A young immature American video-blogger called Logan Paul has been in the headlines recently for uploading an appalling, disgusting video to his channel. Paul has quite rightly been castigated in the strongest possible terms – initially by specialist, digital media and more recently by main stream media on both sides of the Atlantic. (If you’ve missed this story, entering ‘Logan Paul deleted video’ into your favourite search engine will bring you up to speed in no time.)

I believe Paul deserves every piece of criticism coming his way. He’s made some bad choices, done some foolish things and is paying the price. There’s a chance he might be coming around to realising that; time will tell. When I was 22 years old, I was just starting my career in the nascent IT industry. My brothers and I weren’t earning over 10 million bucks a year for making videos of us clowning around. I dare say that if that been the case, then I too might have gone off the rails a little. I’m not excusing the immature Mr Paul here, just stating the obvious: he’s young. He has a lot to learn about life. And the lessons are coming thick and fast for him now. Swallow the fire hose son and grow up.

The people who aren’t so young, ought to be mature and who ought to know how to behave responsibly are YouTube’s executive management. They have failed. Totally, in every way possible. They have failed their owners, their advertisers, their content providers and their content viewers. They’ve even failed Logan Paul.

Shame on you YouTube.

The video that triggered the brickbats being thrown at Logan Paul was online for about 24 hours over New Year’s Eve. It was uploaded to Paul’s channel and then removed by him when the storm clouds gathered. During the relatively short period it was online, it got into YouTube’s Top Ten Trending videos. Given this, you’d imagine that YouTube would be well aware of the video’s content and well aware of the fact that it unquestionably contravened their content policy.

Yet, they didn’t take it down: shame on you YouTube.

Why would YouTube leave such a video online? Could be anything to do with the fact that between them the Paul brothers (Logan and Jake) make YouTube around 20M USD per year (through advertising revenue)? Many savvy digital marketers and fellow vloggers think so. And they’re really upset. Here’s the thing; had I contravened YouTube’s content policy in such a flagrant way, I’m sure YouTube would come down on me like a ton of bricks. And quite rightly so. But not Logan Paul. Not when he’s worth that much revenue to them.

Double standards for content providers: shame on you YouTube.

If you’re a parent to young children, I’m sure you keep at least half an eye on what they’re watching on TV. Quite right. Good for you. However, it’s clear that the TV regulators are way more responsible than YouTube. What’s your young daughter or son watching on his or her phone right now? Don’t know? I’m not surprised. It’s not your fault. Mobile phones (and tablets) provide a much more personal experience that broadcast TV. However, what’s clear from this debacle is that you can’t rely on YouTube to implement its policies and so protect the younger members of our society.

Misleading content viewers: shame on you YouTube.

Given the enormity of the mess, you’d be forgiven for wondering why YouTube has been so absent. Not only did they not act against the offending content, but they’ve maintained a corporate silence since, and left the young hapless Mr Paul take the full brunt of the media rage.

Here’s why. YouTube know full well that Paul’s videos are watched by young people. They know full well that prior to this story breaking nobody of parental age had a clue who the Paul brothers were. And – worryingly – many still don’t. I believe YouTube is hoping that this whole thing will just blow over, because ‘the old folk’ just won’t ‘get it’.

Well you're wrong YouTube. We do. Shame on you.

I further believe that had the offending content been targeted at and seen people older people – responsible adults with grey hair and a social conscience – the outcry against YouTube would have been far greater.

I understand that Logan Paul is easy meat for a good headline and, as I’ve said, he deserves all he’s getting. However, there’s a far greater story here, that thus far the main media seem to be missing.

Paul is young and foolish. YouTube isn’t supposed to be. Companies of YouTube’s standing are meant to have policies, procedures and processes in place. And they’re meant to implement them in a reliable, responsible manner. This is what allows their executive officers to sit in front of parliamentary committees (and those convened by other regulators) and detail in such an earnest voice the measures they are taking to protect the young and vulnerable.

Shame on you YouTube.