The Dark Side of YouTube
By: Josie Klakström
Tags: YouTube, Content, Influencer Marketing, Social Media, Marketing

Recently, Shawn James from the channel, My Self Reliance, explained to his viewers that he was moving, despite building his own home and outbuildings on land he bought several years ago. One reason was due to the thousands of acres surrounding his land being bought up by developers, meaning his once quiet solitude was going to change dramatically. The second reason was because of his neighbours.

Shawn James and Cally via myselfreliance

Shawn, who has 1.6 million subscribers on his main channel, had to call the police on numerous occasions because of a nearby resident targeting him due to his YouTube channel. The neighbour would record sounds and play them back through loudspeakers to interfere with Shawn’s filming and his sleep.

“These people are targeting me specifically because of my YouTube channel. They were harassing me to the point that the police threatened them with criminal harassment…”

The neighbour also set up equipment across the road from Shawn’s driveway and recorded the movements of him and his family. Shawn still doesn’t know what they’ve done with this footage, but the equipment was eventually stolen, for which he was blamed.

They’ve also tried to turn viewers against him online over the years and have threatened him. The final straw for Shawn James was when the neighbours made vulgar comments about his daughters online. After this, his wife and daughters moved out of the cabin and he will soon be following them.

The police ended up threatening the neighbour was criminal harassment, but the damage was done. What was once a quiet place to live for the man who craves privacy after spending years in the city, has become a warzone and he’s not prepared to stay.

The life he lives with his dog, Cally, is one that some people crave, and survival channels have become increasingly popular over the years. However, the man who spends most of his uploads building outhouses and chopping firewood is an unlikely target of internet and real-life abuse.

Sadly, he’s not the only one.

Rob Hefner took to YouTube to tell the viewers on his channel, Little House Off Grid, that one of his subscribers had called the local code enforcement office to complain about his new structure.

An inspector paid Hefner a visit on his Missouri land and explained that there had been complaints about him dumping sewage into a nearby creek. Hefner agreed to the inspection and the check showed that he wasn’t disposing of anything into the water.

The inspector told Hefner, who has 40,000 subscribers, that a viewer in California had contacted their office because he had seen a video of the YouTuber dumping waste. The video doesn’t exist, and the claim was false, but still had to be followed up.

More recently, the local sheriff came by to tell Hefner that someone else had complained about his property. Another subscriber had contacted local law enforcement about the building permits obtained to construct Hefner’s property. This time, however, the subscriber was from Tennessee. According to the YouTuber, his build was above board and due to the size of the home he was building, he didn’t need specific permits. It appeared he has done his due diligence.