Subscribing to evil

More than 1 billion unique visitors every month, over 6 billion hours of video watched, 100 hours of content uploaded every minute and countless allegations of sexual abuse.

It can be quite terrifying when an online platform such as YouTube turns into a community so big and so powerful that it has developed many of the same traits as a traditional community – leaders, gatherings, idols, wrongdoers.

YouTube has grown an unprecedented amount over the past number of years. With the growth in its popularity comes a growth in its influence. YouTube partners earn money for every view they get on their videos. There are now thousands of YouTube creators earning six figure sums every year.

There are of course people behind these views. People who are influenced by YouTubers and who hold these creators in high esteem.

YouTube has a trait which differentiates its ‘celebrities’ from other traditional Hollywood celebrities. YouTube idols garner success and respect from their likeability, their true-to-life content and their approachability. They repeat on an almost daily basis that they are just like every member of their audience, ordinary people who just happen to film and publish their lives online for others’ enjoyment.

With the sense of trust in YouTube creators comes great risk. People, especially young girls become infatuated with their favourite YouTube stars. Many of these relationships are completely innocent with nothing but an odd retweet from a high profile YouTuber leaving a fan in hysterics. However in some cases, this obsession can lead to incredibly compromising situations, some of which have been revealed as early as 2012 but even more so in recent months.

In July of 2012 a prolonged FBI investigation into YouTube musician Mike Lombardo resulted in his arrest. A video by vlogger Savannah Brown in September of this year, revealed that the federal investigation led to ‘thousands upon thousands of inappropriate pictures and videos of minors’ being found on his phone and computer. A victim herself of Lombardo’s manipulative and inappropriate behaviour, Savannah Brown decided to tell her story in the hope that it would inspire others to talk and share their own experiences. Although she did not agree to Lombardo’s requests for nude photos, she was only 15 years old at the time and received highly inappropriate messages from the then 23 year old.

Lombardo pled guilty to the receipt of pornography from minors – minors who had been infatuated with him and encouraged by his manipulation of their awe at his interest in them. Mike Lombardo was sentenced to 5 years in prison.

Lombardo’s receipt of child pornography really highlights the issue at hand. His victims were impressionable minors. According to UKOM/Nielsen Home and Work Panel, March 2012, YouTube is the most visited site for 2-17 year olds. In an age of media culture and an age where the internet is the biggest source of information and influence, the repercussions on young members of our community can be disastrous.

The relationships which can be formed on this online platform are fashioned in such a way that these predators can easily manipulate and take advantage of those who so naively idolise them.

2012 and 2013 saw a number of other cases of inappropriate sexual relations between YouTube creators and viewers come to light. A number of allegations were made against members of DFTBA Records, a YouTube music label and merchandise manufacturer. One such member was British YouTuber Alex Day who was accused on a number of accounts of sexual abuse, emotional manipulation and disregard for boundaries.

Day addressed the allegations himself on his Tumblr, acknowledging that ‘the model of consent that I followed, not that I specifically thought about it at the time – was that “no” only meant “no”. That is not what consent is.’

Sam Pepper who found YouTube fame through his viral prank videos was one of the most high profile cases of sexual abuse allegations this year. There was widespread condemnation of Pepper following his decision to upload a prank video of him groping women on the streets of LA. It was this viral prank video which fuelled the confidence of his victims to speak out, with at least six women making allegations of harassment and sexual assault against him.

On September 24^th a girl whose identity remains anonymous uploaded the video ‘Sam Pepper – The Real “Reveal”’. Without showing her full face, the girl described her experience of being sexually assaulted by Sam Pepper. Her friends’ jealousy at Pepper’s interest in her and his complete disregard of her many screams of ‘no’ meant that she became yet another victim of the sexual offenders YouTube harbours.

Consent according to the Oxford English Dictionary is ‘Permission for something to happen or agreement to do something.’ Consent is exactly what vlogger Ania Magliano-Wright reported to be missing in her vlog describing her relations with British YouTuber Jason Viohni. ‘I feel like with the amount of alcohol that he had given me I wasn’t in the right state of mind to make choices like that and that he knew that and was making sure of it.’

As a fifteen year old, Ania was very much the typical fangirl whose admiration blinded any sense of judgement. ‘He was well aware of the fact that I looked up to him and he made use of his position of power.’

This is the issue. The blurred sense of relationship between YouTube creator and viewer is being grossly manipulated by those who see their position of power as just that – power over members of their audiences and the ability to manipulate them into highly inappropriate situations.

YouTube is on the whole, a positive space full of creativity. The evil which resides beneath needs to be unearthed and this can only be done by the cooperation of viewers, authorities and other YouTube creators. The bravery of victims to speak out needs to be echoed by YouTubers in positions of authority. Those with millions of subscribers need to make clear that this culture of sexual abuse is not to be tolerated.

The discussion needs to continue. This issue needs to be raised across all online platforms. The perpetrators need to be unmasked and the victims heard.