Photo by Phil McCarten/Invision/AP
YouTube is taking disciplinary action on Logan Paul following the controversial video he shot in Japan’s suicide forest.
Polygon reports that the company removed him from the Google Preferred program, which allows brands to publish ads on the platform’s top 5 percent content creators in the US. In return, creators earn from every click on their video.
Paul is also out of web series Foursome while his YouTube Red projects are on hold. He starred in the YouTube film “The Thinning,” with the sequel now up in the air.
The 22-year-old vlogger has about 15 million subscribers to his channel and is said to be popular among tweens and teens. He began his rise to Internet fame with the now defunct video platform Vine.
YouTube also posted an open letter on Twitter on the incident, stating, “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.”
“Suicide is not a joke, nor should it ever be a driving force for views,” it declared.
“The channel violated our community guidelines, we acted accordingly, and we are looking at further consequences,” it said of Paul.
The company also promised steps to avoid similar videos from being shared.
On Dec. 31, Paul and a group of friends ventured into Aokigahara Forest, a site at the base of Mt. Fuji known for suicides. He took a video of a dead body and made jokes with the group and received widespread criticism from the Japanese people and the international community.
He has since released two apologies and on Jan. 4, announced on Twitter that he was “taking time to reflect, no vlog for now.” Niña V. Guno /ra
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