In May, near a courthouse in Busan, a man in his 50s, a YouTuber, fatally stabbed another YouTuber with a weapon. The victim’s screams and the stabbing were live streamed on the victim’s YouTube channel. The two had been feuding on their respective YouTube channels, where they had been slandering each other, and the victim had anticipated an attack that day. Despite the incident being streamed in real-time, no immediate action was taken. This delay raised serious questions about the platform’s responsibility. The Korea Communications Standards Commission requested the removal of the video, but Google, which owns YouTube, did not take it down for 10 hours. By that time, the victim, who had 5,000 subscribers, had the horrific footage of his murder viewed 350,000 times.

On platforms where views translate to revenue, highly provocative content is being produced at alarming rates. Live streaming, in particular, generates income not through ads but through donations, like “Super Chats” or virtual gifts such as star balloons. The earnings are typically split 70% for the content creator and 30% for the platform. While profits can be confiscated if illegal activity is detected and penalized, these cases are rare. This creates a vicious cycle, where creators push boundaries to attract more viewers and receive more donations. As the content grows more extreme and explicit, some creators have even begun involving teenagers.

With live streaming becoming a loophole for evading regulatory scrutiny or platform sanctions, cracking down on this type of content has become increasingly difficult. Platforms claim they can’t be held accountable for real-time live streaming due to the inherent challenges of monitoring it at the moment.

A larger concern is the exposure of harmful or illegal content to children and teens, who have little protection from such material. Major platforms like YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok lack proper age verification, allowing minors to easily access violent or explicit content alongside adults.

In March, a popular gaming streamer, involved in an ongoing feud with another streamer, physically assaulted his rival after a viewer offered a 15 million won (about $11,235) donation for them to fight in person. The resulting video, showing him cornering and attacking his opponent, garnered 130,000 views, with a donation link attached to the video description.

During live broadcasts, the more extreme the creator’s actions, the more attention and money they earn. Viewers sometimes offer significant sums in exchange for violent or sexually explicit acts. Platforms argue that real-time monitoring of live streams is difficult, essentially allowing such content to continue unchecked. For these companies, live streaming has become a profitable business model that allows them to avoid responsibility.

In August of last year, a YouTuber in his 20s was arrested by Korean police after livestreaming simulated sex acts with local women at a nightclub in Thailand. While his channel was originally focused on travel content from Southeast Asia, much of his material revolved around nightlife scenes. Over the course of a month, he earned over 10 million won in donations from these streams. He would delete the videos immediately after each broadcast, leaving no trace. As the media began to criticize his actions and public outrage grew, authorities finally stepped in.

Graphics by Kim Sung-kyu