Recently, the social media world has been upturned by a controversy surrounding Nas Daily and various Filipino persons such as Whang-Od and family, and Louise Mabulo. Various allegations have been made against Nas Daily, indicating that he is exploiting local culture just to get views in. With the Nas Daily controversy blurring the line between exploration and exploitation of local culture, we question if vloggers and influencers take into consideration ethical content creation in their content
Quick backstory on the exploitation of local culture
To provide you with a little background information:
– Nas Daily or Nuseir Yassin, is a famous content creator and vlogger, well-known for raking in millions of views for his 1-minute videos. Yassin is also the creator of Nas Academy, an online learning platform.
– Whang-Od is a world-renowned traditional tattoo artist. Nas Academy is under fire for featuring Whang-Od in a masterclass-type of online course class for a fee of $15. It was alleged that Whang-Od was unaware of the contract details and thus was exploited in the business deal.
– Louise Mabulo is the founder of The Cacao Project, who spoke about her experience working with Nas Daily, and alleges that the vlogger mocked Filipinos for being poor.
Since the controversies has erupted, Nas Daily has seen their follower count drop tremendously just in the first few days of August. They are also under a lot of heat and backlash, not just from their Filipino followers but worldwide as well. It is clear that Nas Daily is facing an organizational crisis and how it handles this issue will have a direct impact on its business, moving forward.
Ethical Content Creation Is Important
Cultural misappropriation and exploitation have been on the rise in recent years and have entered the limelight in mainstream discussions. Ignorance and cultural insensitivity are usually the cause of such issues. It is important to discuss the controversy surrounding Nas Daily as it provides the opportunity for open discussion and debate on where to draw the line between appreciating and sharing local cultures versus appropriating and exploiting local cultures.
One way to look at ethical content creation is to see if one party is benefiting from the other in an unfair manner. For example, vlogging about local customs is a great way to share insights about traditions and cultures, the vlogger needs to be aware that the content is done tastefully and respectfully. Acknowledging the origins of the culture is often an important aspect of sharing, and sometimes, a one-minute video may not warrant sufficient time to share such information.
This is where influencers, content creators, vloggers, and bloggers need to be able to toe the line between being able to showcase the beauty of local culture and staying true to their creative pursuits. Have an open mind and work together with experts, researchers, or even your local friends to glean their perspectives on your ideas and concepts. Most importantly, stay flexible to adapt to the possibility of changing the concept of your content. Seek guidance and ask for feedback on the script or captions you want to use.
Remember that while creative freedom is important, personal agency and accountability are inexcusable, especially in the age where access to information and knowledge is almost instantaneous. Share with care, and you will save yourself from landing in a hot soup of outrage and backlash.
