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PayPal’s crackdown on ASMR creators (engadget.com)
24 points by tareqak on Sept 18, 2018 | hide | past | favorite | 15 comments


Starting off, this article is extremely biased. I have not seen such anti-male journalism in some time. She is trying to portray pretty much all ASMR creators as victims for making innocent content and that just isn't true. Sure there are a lot of legit ASMR creators whos content is non-sexual and relaxing. However, there are way more sexual and pseudo-sexual ASMR channels that she leads you to believe.

Paypal isn't a bank and should not be used as such. They can suspend/freeze/ban you for any reason under the sun. Paypal has long been known to screw people over. Contrary to the article trying to portray that woman and LGBT people are under some mystical male abuse campaign from PP and YT, men are just as well caught in the net of problems both platforms cast.

Now these legit channels being targeted by report/flag campaigns is bad. There really isn't much recourse on either platform. Once you're punished, you have to go to hell and back to get unpunished. She is right in saying that these platforms are not built to handle edge cases like targeted harassment. She seems to think that sexuality shouldn't be a punishable offense on these platforms, which I think most people would disagree with. While this focuses on this specific case, this points to a broader problem that these platforms in the entirety are subject to abuse from organized groups. Yes ASMR creators were targeted here, but an organized push against most any group on these platforms could result in false bans/suspensions. I don't think this article belongs on HN. From a different source that is more unbiased yes, but this article is absurdly written.


You jumped to conclusions about the article being anti-male. I have no idea how you got there... Is it "anti-male" to call out a handful of men on 8chan for harassing women?

I'm curious if you bothered to lookup the blacklisted creators before asserting that they were sexual. For your convenience, I've listed them below:

ASMR Glow: https://m.youtube.com/channel/UCFmL725KKPx2URVPvH3Gp8w

Scottish Murmurs: https://m.youtube.com/channel/UCLcyg3kjSwlUxjnQhSMqfmg

Rose ASMR: https://m.youtube.com/channel/UCGVV7XI1shSNCaF4dmYsOCg/video...

Creative Calm: https://m.youtube.com/channel/UCrIPWaSEHW4CqX0hGtxsQwg


> Is it "anti-male" to call out a handful of men on 8chan for harassing women?

No, but it's insane to take *chan seriously. It's a satire site.


In this case 8chan got their PayPal accounts frozen. People tend to take losing access to their funds pretty seriously.


I'm not sure. Things on eg. 4-chan sometimes spill out into the real world from time to time. Sometimes it's awesome, sometimes terrifying. (Think chaotic neutral)


The fact that PayPall can do something does not make them immune to critism, or jouranlistic review. That is precisly the check on private company that is supposed to occur in a free market: they do something bad, and the bad thing gets publisized do people can make an informed choice on if they want to use the service.

As an aside, there is an arguement to be had on if there should be legal recourse against PayPal, or even if they would win on the merits of a civil suit if brought.


Huh. And I thought ASMR made sleep vids - rain sounds on a tent was my favorite.

But considering how making unverifiable claims seems to be so effective nowadays, it doesn't surprise me much anymore.

I pity those caught in the whirlwind. Let's hope sanity returns soon.


I would assume that any account or video that receives a large spike in user-generated flags would get reviewed by a person. Then if the content was deemed acceptable per the user guidelines, that account would be 'un-flaggable' for 90 days.

Is there anyone with knowledge of these systems who can speak to how this might work?


Ask your regulator to find out.


One has to be extremely naïve not to know what "ASMR creators" are actually selling. I don't think it's all that weird that they are being banned from PP for using it to sell indecent content.


I do. Banks should only disallow illegal transactions.

Not that I am surprised: PayPal is American.


Paypal also isn't a bank.


It's not weird to me, they do it because of the big amount of chargebacks on porn content. This has been discussed here to oblivion.


Pray tell -- what are ASMR creators actually selling, that's so indecent?


They are selling their sex appeal. Couple of video titles:

Scottish Murmurs - Full body massage role play - Ear to Ear sleep spa

Rose ASMR: - Mouth sounds, ear massage - Brushing your face, kisses

This is the first time I hear of ASMR and I quite like it but let’s not pretend this isn’t about their sex appeal.




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