ASMR stars' criticism of Youtube: "All our channels can disappear"

- We are completely dependent on YouTube's goodwill, if they decide that ASMR is not suitable for ads, all our channels can disappear tomorrow, it is scary, says ASMR practitioner "Gibi" who has 635 million views on her YouTube channel, completely dedicated to ASMR.

Despite the fact that the ASMR phenomenon has exploded online and become so mainstream that it is now seen and heard in car and beer advertising, the practitioners, who are often young women, still believe that they still wrestle with prejudice that ASMR is a sexual fetish.

- Because some ASMR practitioners deliberately resort to sex and porn, Youtube has removed ads from a variety of ASMR videos. Also from completely innocent material that is far from porous. This has a huge impact on ASMR stars because Youtube is their biggest platform and revenue, says Adrian Boberg ASMR expert.

In a study from Swansea University, 476 ASMR users were asked to answer questions about why they were watching the clips. 82 percent responded that clips are used to fall asleep, only five percent reported looking to simulate sex.

From the ASMR world, there is now criticism that Youtube's policy is arbitrary and that the company, for no reason, removes ads from clips that are not considered "family friendly". One of the most popular ASMR practitioners is - 14-year-old Makenna Kelly, who runs the AMSR account Life with MaK. She has had a number of clips completely removed from Youtube, including a video, where she eats a wax cake, which had 14 million views.

- They said it was inappropriate content. I was in my pajamas and fully dressed, nothing strange about it, but it was removed.

Youtube does not want to post an interview to explain what makes certain ASMR clips considered inappropriate but writes in an email to the Culture News:

“In 2018, we worked with experts to update the reviewer guidelines that underlie the removal of ASMR videos where minors perform more intimate or inappropriate acts. Materials that sexualize minors - even if they do not do so intentionally - are prohibited by our guidelines. "

- They have a lot of new rules because there are pedophiles out there. But it is very annoying because it is not my fault that there are people out there who take ASMR the wrong way, says ASMR star Makenna Kelly.