Should YouTube Considering Being Harder on Logan Paul?

YouTube is punishing Logan Paul, again.  This time, they have temporarily turned off all ads that are found in Paul’s videos.  Why? Well, in his most recent video, Paul tasered a rat and then promised to eat laundry detergent.  Presumably promoting the “Tide Challenge”.  What’s going on with Logan Paul?  When the news first broke, I suggested that we, as human beings, give him the benefit of the doubt.  What he did was stupid and insensitive, but we’ve all be in situations where we did something that we shouldn’t have.  No, I wasn’t defending him, but merely trying to point out that we all deserve a second chance.

But then my opinion changed because he kept making the news.  Should we keep granting him these “second chances”?  Or should YouTube remove him from the platform completely?  I even think YouTube was following the same line of thinking that I was.  Yes, this was stupid, and yes he should be punished. But to what extent?  In a response to this most recent video, YouTube states:

“After careful consideration, we have decided to temporarily suspend ads on Logan Paul’s YouTube channels. This is not a decision we made lightly, however, we believe he has exhibited a pattern of behavior in his videos that makes his channel not only unsuitable for advertisers, but also potentially damaging to the broader creator community.”

Let’s consider for a moment that Logan Paul’s raison d’etre is actually for shock value.  I have no problem with this kind of thing, as there are a lot of people who exist in this world to give us those kinds of scenarios.  But I think there’s a fine line between shocking us, and being inappropriate.  Take Howard Stern for example.  There are a lot of people who listen to him because they want to be shocked.  And there is an equal number of people who don’t listen because they don’t like what he has to say.  And that’s fine.  I’m sure he’s fine with that, and he understands that he’s not for everyone.

But the difference between Paul and Stern is quite significant, in my opinion.  Which is – Stern is on the radio because some network or some producer felt that he could add value to their platform.  Meaning, Stern is being paid by a company with private interests in mind.  YouTube is kind of different, in that, it’s a collective platform for everyone.  It’s a place where the masses can go to get information that they need. But because of the way the ads work, YouTube also kind of “supports” the information on the platform.  Which means they have to be accountable for that information.  Much in the same way that Stern’s bosses are accountable for him.

But because this hasn’t been that much of an issue, until recently, YouTube has been able to get away with allowing these kinds of videos on the platform.  But they should be keeping a better eye on things, in my opinion.  I’m not saying that YouTube has to police everything and everyone, but I’m concerned that they’re not policing enough.  I also don’t know that they’re doing enough just by removing the ads from Paul’s videos.  Sure, that’s going to limit his income, but I’m not sure that he’s going to stop.  He seems to be on this destructive path of wanting attention, and I wonder what it will take to get him to change his ways?