In an announcement made on X, which was formerly known as Twitter, YouTube declared its decision to demonetize a content creator. This action came after she shared a photograph of another YouTuber’s residence on her Instagram story.
The involved parties are SSSniperwolf, also known as Alia Shelesh, boasting more than 34 million YouTube subscribers and 5.6 million Instagram followers, primarily recognized for her reaction videos to TikToks, and JacksFilms, or Jack Douglass, with over four million YouTube subscribers, known for his humorous skits and parodies.
A public dispute between these two content creators unfolded online following the incident, with Douglass repeatedly urging YouTube to take action before a recent response.
This rivalry between the two YouTubers has been ongoing for quite some time. Both have been active on the platform for more than a decade. More recently, SSSniperwolf had begun posting videos in which she reacted to TikToks. Douglass had been critical of her content for several months, claiming that her videos failed to give proper credit to the creators she was reacting to and asserting that her content lacked originality, a point that Shelesh vehemently denied.
SSSniperwolf and JacksFilms (Credits: Business Insider)
On October 13, Shelesh posted a picture on her Instagram story accompanied by text that read, “Should I go visit @Jacksfilms? He lives 5 mins away from my shoot.” She proceeded to add several more posts to her story, including an image of Douglass’ residence with text that stated, “Let’s talk like adults.”
Douglass captured a screenshot of this Instagram story and accused Shelesh of doxxing him, a term used to describe the act of revealing someone’s address, which Shelesh vehemently denied. He tagged YouTube in his post and called for her videos to be demonetized. Shelesh responded on Instagram, claiming, “I have no idea how to Dox.”
On October 14, YouTube finally responded to a post on X that had tagged them, inquiring about their policy regarding YouTubers doxxing each other. The company shared a link to its harassment and bullying policy, stating, “We don’t allow harmful behaviors like threats and doxxing.” A community note was added to the post, providing context and pointing out that no action had been taken against SSSniperwolf.
On the same day, Douglass uploaded a video to YouTube to explain the situation to his followers. In the video, he expressed, “In my 17 years on YouTube, I’ve never once had someone come to my home and vaguely threaten me.” He also called for SSSniperwolf to be deplatformed.
SSSniperwolf and JacksFilms (Credits: Forbes)
After receiving no response from YouTube, Douglass quote-tweeted YouTube’s post regarding their harassment policy on October 17 and stated, “@TeamYouTube, the best time to remove Sssniperwolf from your platform was Friday night… The second best time is now.”
YouTube eventually responded to Douglass’s X post, announcing, “Confirming SSSniperWolf has received a temporary monetization suspension per Creator Responsibility policies.” They continued by saying, “Off-platform actions that put others’ personal safety at risk harm our community, and the behavior on both sides isn’t what we want on YT. Hoping everyone helps move this convo to a better place.”
Following this, Shelesh posted a lengthy message on X, offering apologies to both Douglass and her fans. She expressed her regret for her actions, stating, “I’m sorry to Jacksfilm, YouTube, the entire creator community, and my incredible fans for not being a better example for appropriate conflict resolution.” She acknowledged her differences with Douglass and expressed her desire to reach out to him for a meaningful and private conversation. She thanked YouTube for holding her accountable and pledged to learn from the experience.
