YouTube has announced to remove famous American video blogger Logan Paul, over posting a video of a suicide victim in Japan.
The YouTube star’s channels were removed from YouTube’s Google Preferred programme, limiting his earning power and visibility.
YouTube also said it had put future projects with Paul on hold. Paul posted the video on the social media platform of a suicide victim on December 31 which lead to widespread criticism.
The video showed the 22-year-old vlogger discovering a body along with his friends at the Aokigahara a dense woodland in Japan at the foot of the mountain known as “the Suicide Forest.”
The video violated the community guidelines of Youtube. The viewers displayed anger by commenting on the video as highly ‘disgusting’ and ‘disrespectful.’
Logan Paul, who has more than 15 million followers on YouTube, later posted an apology on Twitter, saying he had been “misguided by shock and awe”.
Dear Internet, pic.twitter.com/42OCDBhiWg
— Logan Paul (@LoganPaul) January 2, 2018
He also posted a video apology and said: “I should have never posted the video. I should have put the cameras down and stopped recording what we were going through.”
So sorry. pic.twitter.com/JkYXzYsrLX
— Logan Paul (@LoganPaul) January 2, 2018
“I’m ashamed of myself,” he added. “I’m disappointed in myself.”
Japan has long struggled with some of the highest suicide rates in the developed world and Aokigahara is internationally a destination for people who want to end their lives.
The number of suicides which take place there are not revealed to avoid publicising the site. Signs are posted in the forest advising people to seek medical help rather than kill themselves.
The identity of the deceased man is not yet revealed.
