Logan Paul buys Keemstar theory that YouTube is censoring him

Popular and controversial YouTuber Logan Paul has joined the ranks of vloggers claiming that the video site is censoring content.

Paul appeared to buy into a theory put forward on Wednesday by fellow YouTuber Daniel “Keemstar” Keem, who suggested that YouTube was deliberately downranking videos tagged “Logan Paul.”

Keemstar, who runs a gossipy, YouTube-focused news vlog called DramaAlert, claimed that he posted a video featuring the words “Logan Paul” in the title and tags, and that it received fewer views than normal. The video, he claimed, did better once Paul’s name was removed.

Paul wrote in reply: “i hate to say this & i mean i REALLY hate to say this but i think these are facts, pls love me again @YouTube.”

Here’s the exchange on Twitter:

The claim is impossible to prove without input from YouTube, which declined to comment. But a source close to the company said the site doesn’t downgrade videos based on specific creators or words.

And there are reasons to take Keemstar’s claims with a pinch of salt.

He has proven to be an unreliable source in the past. In 2016, he falsely accused an elderly online gamer of being a paedophile. Despite a retraction from Keemstar, the elderly gamer received death threats and online harassment thanks to the false accusation.

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And YouTube rarely, if ever, “censors” individuals’ channels without publicly flagging it. The company openly disclosed that it was terminating conspiracy channel InfoWars, for example.

And while YouTube has punished Logan Paul in the past due to his controversial content, it has been open in explaining why.

Paul made headlines at the beginning of this year for posting a video of himself wandering through a so-called “suicide forest” in Japan and stumbling across a dead body.

YouTube dropped him from its preferred ads programme, which gives advertisers access to the top YouTube channels, and delayed the release of his Originals film on the video site. It switched ads back on in February. The site also temporarily suspended Paul because of his continued “pattern of behaviour” in his videos, such as tasering dead rats, and published its decision on Twitter.

None of the above actually got him booted from the site, and Paul’s Originals film — a sci-fi movie — appeared on his channel in October this year.

Meanwhile, Forbes has just ranked Logan Paul 10th on its annual list of the wealthiest YouTubers, pegging his 2018 earnings at $14.8 million, mostly thanks to merchandise purchases from fans. It was an increase on his earnings of $12.5 million in 2017.