When it comes to the relationship status between YouTube and its former golden boy Logan Paul, it’s complicated.
In the wake of Paul’s egregious, insensitive decision to post a video of a body he found in Japan’s so-called “suicide forest,” YouTube tweeted in an open letter that it was exploring “further consequences” against Paul. It announced those consequences on Wednesday, as Billboard reports. They include a strike on Paul’s channel for violating its community standards. (Three strikes within a three-month period results in the termination of an account.) Other repercussions include putting Paul’s YouTube Original projects on hold, pulling him from the fourth season of the YouTube Red show Foursome, and dropping Paul from its Google Preferred program, which gives advertisers access to the top 5% of creators on the platform.
The move seems largely symbolic, though, as advertisers are undoubtedly well-aware of Paul’s fall from grace. Plus, Paul isn’t cut off from all advertising benefits on YouTube and can still use the YouTube Partner Program to monetize videos. As The Telegraph notes, while Paul did not monetize the suicide forest video, the rest of his Japan travelogue was monetized, and they estimate he has made around $90,000 to be shared with YouTube.
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