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Veritasium's new video on Jumping Spiders is having its sponsor Better Help on blast in the top comments. Should we hold content creators to account? (discuss.tchncs.de)

submitted 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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Should we stop supporting them with our eyes for taking sponsorships from shady companies?

Edit: I took my first step and unsubscribed from the channel and I will continue to withhold my viewership to those that don’t take better care of the viewers.

Likely doesn’t matter, but I’m on a roll of not giving my money to companies that are immoral so why not do the same with my eyes.

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[–] [email protected] 45 points 5 months ago (2 children)

Am I just old, even by internet standards? Because we've been here before. Better Help was blasted on the internet several years ago for their shady business practices. Several major YouTubers published "make good" videos about it, because of how bad the service was. Better Help was giving YouTubers and podcasters a shitload of money to promote their product, and in their terms they explicitly stated that they did not verify the credentials of their "therapists" and that it was on you to do that.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 5 months ago (1 children)

We have been here before. I don't remember who made it but there's a really good video on YouTube explaining why better help started another massive ad campaign on YouTube. Better help was involved with a fraudulent doctor finder website that was directing people to better help. That website got shutdown by the FTC just before better help increased YouTube funding so the hypothesis is they are trying to recoup that lost income because it was a significant revenue source.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 5 months ago

Well, that does make some sense. I swear some of the channels who have these sponsorships are the same channels that had them last time around too.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 5 months ago (1 children)

I feel like this wasn't even that long ago? I was quite surprised when my content suddenly started being sponsored by them again.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

I had that same reaction. It actually happened around 2018 (where does the time go?)

https://www.polygon.com/2018/10/4/17932862/betterhelp-app-youtube-sponsorship-controversy-explained

We've definitely been here before. One of the interesting things about this article is that a lot of the videos they embedded are gone now.