YouTube has temporarily demonetized a video on SSSniperwolf‘s channel after she went to Jacksfilms‘ house and posted a video of it on Instagram.
For those of you not caught up with the tension between Jacksfilms (aka Jack Douglass) and SSSniperwolf (aka Alia Shelesh), we put together a writeup last week. But the essentials are:
- most of SSSniperwolf’s modern internet presence is built on reaction content
- she often does not credit the people who originally posted the clips she reacts to
- Douglass takes issue with that failure to credit, arguing it’s content theft, and says Shelesh at times purposefully obscures original creators’ names
- Douglass launched a channel parodying her reaction content style and has been urging YouTube to deplatform her
This all came to a head Oct. 13 when Shelesh decided to show up at Douglass’ house. She filmed a video of herself outside and posted it on Instagram. (That post was later removed.)
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Douglass immediately called for YouTube to take action, saying what Shelesh had done was “disgusting” and that she is “dangerous.”
A week later, YouTube finally responded via its official X account.
“Confirming SSSniperWolf has received a temporary monetization suspension per Creator Responsibility policies,” Team YouTube wrote. “Off platform actions that put others’ personal safety at risk harm our community & the behavior on both sides isn’t what we want on YT. Hoping everyone helps move this convo to a better place.”
Confirming SSSniperWolf has received a temporary monetization suspension per Creator Responsibility policies. Off platform actions that put others’ personal safety at risk harm our community & the behavior on both sides isn’t what we want on YT. Hoping everyone helps move this…
— TeamYouTube (@TeamYouTube) October 20, 2023
Now, as you probably suspect, “behavior on both sides isn’t what we want on YT” was not exactly the response Douglass–or many other people–were expecting. Replies to YouTube’s comment have been overwhelmingly negative, and an X community note points out that “As per Youtube’s Harassment rules, Doxxing is to be met with a permenant termination.”
We’re not sure if YouTube considers what Shelesh did to be doxxing. She went to Douglass’ house, and she posted a video of herself at his house, with enough footage that maybe someone could put together his location. It’s unacceptable behavior by any standard, and potentially illegal in the state where they both live, but whether it counts as doxxing per YouTube’s TOS isn’t clear; one of Team YouTube’s other replies indicates it considers someone posting another person’s “face/personal info” to be doxxing.
Douglass says it’s clear this is a case of doxxing. “I’ve sent video evidence to the appropriate channels and am happy to share directly with you. This is a clear example of doxxing and a clear violation of your policy stated here,” he wrote on X. “I’m aware you are looking into the situation, but this is a black-and-white case that holds dangerous implications if it goes unchecked. Please act now and remove this channel from your platform.”
Shelesh’s channel is still up. And as for the “temporary demonetization” YouTube slapped her with, it looks like that only affected her most recent video—not her entire channel.
She posted an apology to Douglass Oct. 20, the same day Team YouTube first responded to him.
Let me start by saying I’m sorry for my recent actions; it is inexcusable. I’m sorry to Jacksfilm, YouTube, the entire creator community, and my incredible fans for not being a better example for appropriate conflict resolution. Jacksfilm, while we certainly don’t see eye to eye…
— Lia (@sssniperwolf) October 20, 2023
