In early August 2018, the YouTuber Squeezie ignited Twitter by claiming that some of his peers were taking advantage of " the psychological vulnerability of young subscribers to obtain sex ". Under the hashtag #balancetonyoutubeur, many young women had testified, sometimes accusing certain personalities followed by hundreds of thousands of subscribers. The publication in Le Parisien two days later of screenshots of compromising conversations between Youtubers and minors had amplified the movement. But after several false testimonies were shared and in the absence of legal proceedings, the controversy had finally died down.
It resurfaced a few weeks ago after Youtubeur TheKairi, 33, formalized his relationship with a 16-year-old girl. Faced with the virulent reactions of Internet users, the videographer followed by more than 3.5 million subscribers first sought to justify himself, explaining that their story was fully accepted and carefully considered. Days later, TheKairi finally announced that the relationship had ended by mutual agreement, after " realizing some things thanks to [her] community ."
No court conviction
Following this case, new alleged victims sought to shed light on the harmful influence and abusive behavior of certain renowned YouTubers. On Instagram, one of them assured that Norman Thavaud, one of the most famous French Youtubers, had repeatedly asked her for naked photos when she was a minor. If he did not react to these accusations, several Internet users again shared old testimonies incriminating him, dating from August 2018. Another prominent YouTuber, VodK, was also attacked a second time on networks concerning similar facts. On Instagram, he denied and hinted that he intended to file a defamation complaint.
Despite multiple calls from his fans to express himself, Youtubeur Squeezie has not yet wished to speak on this new episode of #Balancetonyoutubeur. In 2018, he first tweeted " the truth always ends up breaking out " before apologizing a few weeks later to " Youtubers who had to suffer a huge defamation ". To bring together information scattered over multiple media, a Twitter thread has listed all the French YouTubers accused over time, more than thirty names are cited.
So far, no French Youtuber has been convicted of acts of sexual abuse or harassment. In 2019, an American YouTuber was sentenced to 10 years in prison for requesting sexually explicit videos from his fans .