YouTube has already been ruined after cracking down on anything even remotely controversial on the platform. But one thing that appears to be allowed on the platform is the botched slaughter and eating of live animals in distress.
The South Korean ASMR YouTuber known as Ssoyoung is facing backlash due to a video where she is seen ingesting a live octopus, with viewers accusing her of animal abuse.
Ssoyoung has become popular due to ASMR videos. However, even though her notoriety on the platform has helped one of her videos have more than 24 million views, the way she tries to stimulate viewers’ ears has started to cause her problems – munching on live animals.
Unlike other YouTubers dedicated to ASMR, the young South Korean woman does not record herself simply making pleasant whispers in the microphone, but rather combines it with the practice of mukbang (eating in front of the camera).
This week, the YouTube community are calling her work animal abuse.
In fact, in her most popular video, she is seen cooking six live octopuses. The way she records herself cutting the tentacles and cooking them is macabre, as the YouTuber clearly doesn’t know how to properly slaughter the animals, leaving them in pain as she tortured them.
The way Ssoyoung treats marine life has always been a concern for users, but the number of complaints recently increased when Ethan Klein, one of the creators of the American YouTube channel h3h3Productions, took a stand against these practices on April 9 with a video called “ASMR Has Gone Way Too Far.”
In the octopus video, there are several scenes where the dismembered parts of the animal are seen writhing in spasms, and even close-ups are taken to appreciate the animal’s last moments in detail.
Viewers were shocked that even as killing the animals, Ssoyoung doesn’t even do so in a humane way. “She proceeds to cut off their mantles which DOES NOT contain its brain, leaving it fully conscious to writhe in pain,” one commenter said. “Why is this on YouTube? Is this really what they want their platform to stand for?”
Another commenter wrote:
“This is not the humane way to dress a squid for consumption. Squids, like all shell-less mollusks, have a complex nerve net, and like octopi, have complex pain receptors, akin to those in a dog. By not severing their central brain (squids, like octopi, have several) you torture them, and leave them writing in pain. You are needlessly torturing live animals, and are truly revolting, for all wondering, to properly dress a squid for cooking, you pierce it through the eyes, as this will cease central nervous function and prevent them from feeling pain. It’s sad that your content is allowed to thrive on YouTube.”
