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YouTuber ItzArya is being heavily criticized for a video where he throws water in people’s faces.
Arya Mosallah, a.k.a. ItzArya posted a video earlier in January called “Throwing Water on People’s Faces Part 2”
And that’s, basically, all it is. Arya confronts unsuspecting people on the street, tosses water in their face, then runs away when they chase him.
Stupid, sure, but why is this causing such an uproar? It’s because there have been an uncomfortable number of “acid attacks” of late in the UK, where attackers use “plastic bottles to spray corrosive substances in their victim’s faces.” There were over 400 acid attacks in London alone in 2017.
It’s become such an issue that some of the UK’s largest retailers have agreed not to sell corrosive liquids to buyers under 18. To be fair, ItzArya doesn’t mention acid in his video and it’s not even clear if he made the connection between his prank and the acid attacks. The video has since been removed by YouTube for violating their policy against harassment and bullying, though a video from June, the original “Throwing Water on People’s Faces,” is still up on YouTube.
And, of course, all of his other videos are still up, which include plenty of harassment in their own right. Presumably, ItzArya could argue that his pranks are all staged, and thus nobody is being harassed. But thus far, he hasn’t reacted to the backlash or the video’s removal from YouTube.
What do you guys think? Is the fact that the pranks are fake make them okay? Or should YouTubers avoid content that takes advantage of real life assault? Let us know in the comments or on Twitter at @WhatsTrending.
