YouTuber Arrested in Vietnam for Creating Violent Content to Gain Views

Police in Hanoi have arrested and detained YouTuber Pham Tuan, along with eight others, on charges of illegally distributing information online. Tuan, 25, is accused of leading a group that produced and spread violent videos, including those depicting schoolyard fights and gang conflicts, with the primary goal of attracting views and generating illicit profits.

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YouTube will pay more if the number of views is higher. More views mean more money.

During questioning, Tuan confessed that his intention was to maximize viewership and likes, as YouTube's payment structure rewards higher view counts. He acknowledged that his video, "The End 3 - Unmasking," which incorporated footage of Nguyen Van Cu High School in Bac Ninh province, negatively impacted the school's reputation. He also admitted that the violent scenes in his videos were harmful to young people.

Tuan, who gained notoriety online by associating himself with the imprisoned figure "Kha 'banh'," managed the "Pham Tuan ENTERTAINMENT" YouTube channel, boasting over a million subscribers. To boost engagement and profits, Tuan and his accomplices created and shared self-produced short films and videos that promoted violence and the use of weapons to resolve disputes.

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I am aware that uploading the video 'The End 3 - Unmasking' to YouTube was wrong because it incorporated images of Nguyen Van Cu High School, affecting the school's reputation and prestige. The fighting and violence in the video also affected young people.

One specific video, "The End 3 - Unmasking," released on June 16, 2020, featured staged fights and extortion within a school setting, using images of Nguyen Van Cu High School. Titled "A School Prone to Violence," the video severely damaged the school's reputation and negatively influenced young viewers. This video alone attracted over 2.7 million views and thousands of comments. The group is estimated to have earned over 500 million Vietnamese dong from distributing such harmful content.

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Those who are about to upload content to social media need to choose positive content that brings value, not upload harmful videos like me, which affect young people.