By Avanni Trujillo
Although Youtube is a platform to be yourself and present unique ideas to an awaiting audience, it has also been a cesspool of unnecessary drama and “feuds” between content creators. Most drama is created to migrate traffic towards certain creators channels, but that should be something left in 2018.
5. Family Channels
Although these family channels may seem sweet on the surface, many try to hide dark secrets from their past, ignore controversies, and manipulate their fans for profit. Take the ACE Family for example; it is only the beginning of 2019 and they have already found themselves in hot water. An old video from 2017 resurfaced of the ACE Family father, Austin McBroom, buying a child a lollipop that is not appropriate for her to have because it was phallic shaped. He has yet to address this issue and the issue of his multiple basketball charity games where the family have taken money out of the checks promised for people in need and also the continuous lies they have told their fans, (ex: their house being broken into, the charity check that was originally made out for $100,000 but they took back $25,000). So a note to family channels and people who watch them: don’t let this behavior continue for the new year.
4. Channels that Glamorize Mental Illnesses
Youtubers such as Eugenia Cooney and Amberlynn Reid are a great example of what should not be allowed on Youtube. Both exploit complete opposite ends of an eating disorder spectrum (Eugenia having anorexia and Amberlynn having binge eating disorder) to their audience, which consist of young and old people. The young part of their audience or and young person who stumbles across their channel might fall victim to the same eating disorders. Although I do hope they both get the help they need this year, Youtube is not the place for them to be at all because of their unhealthy influence.
3. Scammers
I’m sure everyone knows about the Kenza Cosmetic scam that Tana Mongeau and Gabbie Hanna pushed at the end of 2018, but if you don’t, here’s the summary: both Youtubers were pushing an alleged scam on their Instagram accounts for their fans to see. The brushes had slashed prices, from originally being $80 (plus shipping), to being free and only paying shipping. People were happy, but were soon met with disappointment when their brushes either did not arrive or were not good quality like advertised. The storytime Youtube personality has faced virtually no repercussions for her actions because being problematic is part of her brand and something everybody is used to. However that shouldn’t be a persona anyone should want and that should have been left in the past. Both her and Gabbie Hanna should face the consequences, not just one or the other. It is not the first time that Youtubers have been caught sharing scams, even huge youtube stars like Ricegum (real name Bryan Quang Le) and Logan Paul were caught pushing alleged mystery box scams to their young impressionable audience, but let us hope that it will be the last time and no more in 2019.
2. Problematic Youtubers
Problematic Youtubers are a dime a dozen in all honesty. And unfortunately, some don’t change their ways after being caught in a controversy. Some can’t even make a real apology video being genuine about their mistakes and making up for them. For example, maybe after you have been caught “allegedly” scamming your fans out of money for brushes they paid and waited for, you could, I don’t know, maybe apologize? But instead they deflect and tell their fans to “manage their expectations” *cough* Gabbie Hanna *cough*. Or beauty guru, Nikita Dragun, making jokes about pedophilia and darkening their skin for makeup campaigns. That should not ever be tolerated on any platform. To fans of these Youtubers: don’t believe everything that is being said, and if something seems too good to be true it probably is.
1. Youtubers Who Cannot Apologize/ Are Racist
Last but not least, the big one, fake Youtube apologies. How hard is it actually to say a real apology to your loyal audience? I’m guessing very hard since most content creators seem unable to do it. Laura Lee for example: she made many racist tweets in the past and it came to bite her in the future. Her career is practically over, which is bad for her because the sad part is if she gave a genuine apology, people would have forgiven her, but why is she the only one getting flack for it? There are so many creators that have said racist things as well but she’s the only one who got “cancelled” for it. Everyone who has said/done bad things in their past should apologize formally and if they don’t, their fans should leave them in 2018.
beniciapaw.com 