hundreds of videos with a troubling number of views.
So, do parents or YouTube bear the ultimate
responsibility for the safety of these young
creators? While we wait for an answer, child
ASMRtists are taking things into their own hands.The website for ASMRtist United looks remarkably
like it was created by a child – which it was. The
site was founded in August 2017 by 14-year-old
Jacob Daniel, whose “company” offers advice to
ASMRtists under the age of 18. There is a guide on
how to filter out sexual comments, advice on coping
with cyberbullying, and a post entitled: “How do I
stop my school from finding my channel?”
“There are a lot of young ASMRtists, and I try
to tell them, let your parents know,” says Daniel,
who has 24,000 subscribers on his channel Jacob-
Jacob15. He looks out for other ASMRtists (he
also reported the channel of the young girl licking
lollipops) and offers help to young YouTubers.
“Someone told one of our members, ‘Oh, I have
your address, I’m going to give it to a bunch of
paedophiles,’” Daniel says. “This member called
me, crying and sobbing, and I felt so horrible.” The
child told his parents, and gave up making videos.
“I know I’m only 14,” Daniel says, “but we have
strict, strict rules. If we get a report on anything,
we report it to the National Center for Missing and
Exploited Children... I’ve been on YouTube since I
was about five. I’ve got a lot of hate comments so I
know how to handle everything.” His channel is full
of disclaimers. Under all his videos are the words
“Account Monitored and Managed by Parents”,
which he says he wrote as a strategy to reduce the
amount of hate comments posted.
“He does things with the computer and editing
that I know nothing of,” says Daniel’s 53-year-old
mother, Parker Prunkl, with a grin. “I know
Microsoft Word and Excel but his editing... I think
he’ll grow up into the film industry.”
Although Prunkl is proud of her son and helps
him film videos and buy props, Daniel still seems
very much in charge. When I first emailed Prunkl
to set up an interview with her son, she was polite
and excited. Daniel later confessed he was actually
the one who responded to my email.
Daniel is clearly a savvy child – although excitable
and eccentric, he talks soberly about safety on
YouTube, clapping his hands as he tells children
to “be, be safe”. He advises kids to use fake names,
access their email with VPNs, and avoid making
custom Skype calls with viewers. For all his intel-
ligence, however, Daniel is still a child. He and
Prunkl show off a series of wigs they play with at
home – he dons a purple one with red horns; Prunkl
shows me her doll. They talk excitedly about the
pranks they play on the public, wearing the wigs
to order food in takeaway shops.
“I didn’t know he was gonna have a channel this
big, I thought it was a phase or a hobby,” Prunkl says.
“This is a whole new world to me, the ASMR thing –information – but she’s wearing a bra in the video,
like a bralette, but it kind of looks like she’s not
wearing one.” I look over at Kelly, who hides her
head in her hands. “So there’s all that stuff going
around where it’s like, OK, but I can’t cut her nipples
off for the video,” Lacy explains.
The pair have no regrets about the role-play,
which they scripted together and say is simply a
comedy video. “It’s like, you can’t blame me for
your mind working that way,” Kelly says. “It’s not
my problem your mind is in the gutter and stuff.”
Two weeks after we speak, and seven weeks
after it was first uploaded, the “sassy cop” video
is taken down by YouTube. The company made the
decision to delete it a week after being contacted
for comment by WIRED for this feature.
“We believe technology presents great oppor-
tunities for young people to express themselves
creatively and access useful information, but we
also know we have a responsibility to protect youngcreators and families and consider the potential
impact of emerging trends on them,” said Claire
Lilley, YouTube’s child safety policy manager.
“We’ve been working with experts to update our
enforcement guidelines for reviewers to remove
ASMR videos featuring minors engaged in more
intimate or inappropriate acts,” Lilley commented.
“We are working alongside experts to make sure
that we are protecting young creators while also
allowing ASMR content that connects creators and
viewers in positive ways.”
YouTube banned Kelly’s channel for three days
in November, but eventually reinstated it after
discussions with the family. The company’s delayed
decision against its largest child ASMRtist leaves
questions about whether the phenomenon can
be adequately monitored. Videos featuring the
sexualisation of minors are banned by the site,
and ASMR “mouth sound” videos now fall within
this remit. Yet at the time of writing, a search for
“child ASMR mouth sounds” on YouTube brings up@ASMR.CRACKLE
AGE: 26
MAJOR: SOAP CUTTING
170,000 FOLLOWERSFrom her base in Leeds,
Nazish Mahmood cuts
soap on Instagram
and YouTube. The trend
PRO evolved from slime videos.
P^ S
TYL
IST
:^ DA
NE^
JOH
NS
ON