It took exactly five minutes for the internet to turn famous YouTuber SSSniperWolf from someone whom they tolerate to someone they’ve turned their back on—and it is no one’s fault but her own.
SSSniperWolf is known for her reaction videos, in which she records herself “reacting” to someone else’s content. As a result of her easily digestible content, her videos have become the ones commonly recommended when a user first signs in to YouTube; because of this, she has amassed over 34 million followers on YouTube alone.
Although it is her reactions that have allowed her to accumulate such a large following, it has also become a great source of controversy—or, more her lack of reactions has become a great source of controversy. Over the years, more and more people have been calling out SSSniperWolf for her unoriginality in her videos, one of the most notable of these people being famous comedic YouTuber Jacksfilms, who has been known to critic low-commentary videos in the past.
These people, including Jacksfilms, claimed that SSSniperWolf’s content was stealing, as she was not adding anything–even reaction-wise–to the video, nor was she crediting the creators.
As a result of Jacksfilms’ distaste for SSSniperWolf’s content, he created a second channel called JJJacksfilms in order to parody SSSniperWolf’s videos. While, originally, he had been posting low-commentary videos, similar to that of SSSniperWolf’s, it soon turned into the content that it is today: recordings of his Twitch streams playing “SSSniperWolf Bingo,” where the bingo slots were options like “Reading the caption word for word” or “Baby talk.”
Throughout their whole feud, it had stayed entirely online, only having been petty remarks and videos made about one another. However, that changed with SSSniperWolf posting a poll to her Instagram—on which over 5 million people follow her—asking, “Should I go visit @Jackfilms? He lives 5 mins away from my shoot.” Soon after, she posts a photo of Jacksfilms’ house with the caption, “Let’s talk like adults.”
SSSniperWolf doxxed Jacksfilms.
No matter how anyone looks at this situation, that is what she has done; she posted an uncensored photo of where Jacksfilms lives with his wife to her 5 million followers whilst vaguely threatening him, and now, they all know where he lives.
The problem lies in the fact that she has invaded Jackfilm’s privacy. She may not have actually gone into the house, but she did expose it to millions upon millions of people—all of whom she has no clue what they’ll do with this information.
She cannot confidently say that all of the people who saw her post will not damage Jackfilm’s house over their online fight.
She cannot confidently say that all of the people who saw her post will leave Jackfilms’ family alone.
She cannot confidently say that all of the people who saw her post will not go to Jacksfilm’s house.
She has very possibly put Jacksfilms’ family in very real danger over a meaningless internet feud.
In her doxxing Jacksfilms, SSSniperWolf has set an example for her followers. She has sent the message to her followers that it is okay to invade the privacy of others as long as you do not like them and that it’s okay as long as their actions are not aligned with yours.
SSSniperWolf was completely entitled to not liking Jackfilm’s content, there is no rule to say that she had to endure his content with a smile. However, what she is not entitled to do is dox Jacksfilms, to expose his address to the world.
As of now, YouTube has temporarily demonetized her videos for her actions, and she has since issued an apology via Twitter to Jacksfilms.
Even though she has taken a step forward to make the situation better, the damage that SSSniperWolf has done is irreversible. She cannot take back violating Jackfilm’s privacy and the example that she has set for the millions that she influences. All she can do now is await the consequences of her actions.
