YouTube has removed videos promoting academic cheating following a BBC Trending investigation.
The move comes seven months after the BBC exposed hundreds of YouTubers for promoting EduBirdie, a company based in Ukraine which provides essays written to order.
Although essay-writing services are not illegal, they do breach the rules of many schools and universities – with students caught cheating facing serious penalties such as a score of zero on an assessment, or exclusion from the institution.
YouTuber Nick Turgeon was sponsored by EduBirdie to make two slime videos to appeal to young children, which have since been removed from the platform.
Speaking to the BBC, the creator said he regrets working with the company: “It’s morally wrong, and I’m not sad they’ve been deleted.
“I think it was awful they asked me, not knowing their intention, to promote them to such a young and gullible audience,” he said.
The Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education has written to Google, which owns YouTube, suggesting that they should stop taking advertising revenue from essay writing companies such as EduBirdie.
When asked by the BBC about this situation EduBirdie said they do not tell YouTubers what to say and that their essays are intended as a reference guide.
The BBC also revealed that the company also sent a sponsorship offer to YouTuber Joesph Andrews.
In a statement to the BBC, Joseph said: “It was really simple to me, I wasn’t going to take on a sponsorship that was clearly promoting cheating.”
Andrews helped the BBC with their investigation of the company by expressing an interest in their sponsorship offer.
Responding to the takedown of videos promoting academic cheating, a spokesperson of the Department for Education said: “We welcome the action that was taken by YouTube to remove videos promoting cheating in response to the BBC’s investigation, and we expect this to continue.”
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