ASMR Queen “Life With MaK” Quits YouTube bc Her Videos Keep Getting Removed

[BUtterfield 8 41,374]

Makenna Kelly, a 13-year-old YouTuber who has attracted over 1.5 million subscribers to her “Life With MaK” ASMR channel, is vowing to quit the platform in protest against what she and her mother say are overly strict content guidelines that have resulted in several of her videos being removed.

Kelly, who has become a popular meme online thanks to videos of her sipping from a can and rattling it with her fingernails or chewing absentmindedly on a box of sticky honeycomb, told BuzzFeed News that 12 of her ASMR videos have been taken down in the past three months alone by YouTube. The honeycomb video attracted over 13.9 million views before it was removed amid concerns that eating the “sticky” food could be perceived as sexual.

“I shouldn’t be discriminated against or punished for something that I enjoy doing,” Kelly told BuzzFeed News in a phone interview Friday from her home state of Colorado.

Kelly said she recently stopped eating certain foods and wearing certain clothes in her videos because she feared that they would be removed by YouTube.

“They should treat everybody fair,” she said. “If you have a rule, that rule should apply to everyone, and not discriminate against certain people.”

But the trend has left YouTube’s moderators struggling to determine where to draw a line as the content is being viewed by some people for sexual gratification.

But young ASMR artists have not been given an explicit list of do’s and don’ts by the company. Instead, the moderators deal with each video on a case-by-case basis and must determine if the content could be perceived as sexual. This means videos involving sticky or phallic foods, or content that draws attention to certain body parts, such as the mouth, are more likely to be removed if they involve a minor.

“I don’t need YouTube to parent my child or protect my child for me. They are not the government,” Nichole Lacy, Makenna’s mom, who manages her channel, told BuzzFeed News. “Punish the pedophiles and punish the online cyberbullies — not the creator.”

One video was removed because it showed Kelly consuming edible items that were made to look like dish soap and sponges; another showed her biting into a makeup palette made out of fondant and candy. Kelly had added language to these video’s titles and descriptions to let viewers know the products were safe to consume. According to Lacy, the makeup palette video was initially restricted to an 18-plus audience, removing monetization capabilities, but was then eventually removed altogether.

https://www.buzzfeednews.com/amphtml/jakebunger/life-with-mak-youtube-quit-sexual-content?__twitter_impression=true

[Morphine Prince 105,627]

YouTube's rules are getting so ridiculous. Yet they just now started going after Neo-Nazis. Pathetic. 

[weed 73,734]

wtf???? even removing videos of her eating food BC IT DOESNT LOOK LIKE FOOD??? that's insane

YouTube needs a wakeup call but idk how they're going to get it  how does change happen when it's the whole platform

[FentyGa 14,340]

i honestly have to stan an aware QUEEN

she's standing up for herself and her beliefs. we simply must stan.

[Bio 23,538]

They refuse to remove homophobic videos but remove sassy teen fun lol

[Reginald 13,841]

This is happening to *so many* excellent content creators for no good reason. YouTube better get its act together - remember Tumblr? 

 

[VTV 12,825]

Its all fun and games till we see the dark side of youtube. Their hands are tied. Those pedophiles are everywhere. Literally.

[KatieJudasGaga4 67,907]

Youtube disables her comments just because she is young of age, but won't disable homophobia on their site 

 

Also, people doing ASMR, like eating soap or pencils, they always put a disclaimer saying that all of the food they are eating are fake and they are made out of real ingredients still get their comments disabled. 

[Twitter 14]

The blasphemy.

[skaxboy 5,397]

 Noooooooo! She’s so entertaining to watch and the memes with her are always good.  

[Guest Adarsh]

**** YouTube ugh can’t someone make an lgbt friendly alternative already? 

[Delusional 9,221]

2 hours ago, KatieJudasGaga4 said:

Youtube disables her comments just because she is young of age, but won't disable homophobia on their site 

 

Also, people doing ASMR, like eating soap or pencils, they always put a disclaimer saying that all of the food they are eating are fake and they are made out of real ingredients still get their comments disabled. 

What would disabling comments even do?! How does it even protect people lmao.

[KatieJudasGaga4 67,907]

4 minutes ago, VenusBitch said:

What would disabling comments even do?! How does it even protect people lmao.

From Youtube:

“Over the past week, we’ve been taking a number of steps to better protect children and families, including suspending comments on tens of millions of videos. Now, we will begin suspending comments on most videos that feature minors, with the exception of a small number of channels that actively moderate their comments and take additional steps to protect children. We understand that comments are an important way creators build and connect with their audiences, we also know that this is the right thing to do to protect the YouTube community.”

They are disabling comments to make sure pedophiles don't have a way to communicate with children