EDITORIAL - Vloggers must know where the lines are

Two vloggers who performed stunts that caused traffic inconvenience as well as placed their own lives at risk have been charged by police.

Brian Emance, also called Boss LB, and Leonolo Arquita, known as Boy Banat, have been charged with alarm and scandal as well as unjust vexation by the Regional Highway Patrol Unit-7.

You might be familiar with their stunts; Emnace dressed up as a snail and crawled along a highway in Consolacion Town last month, to the annoyance of drivers and passengers in vehicles behind him. Meanwhile, Arquita dressed up as an anime character and distracted vehicles along the Transcentral Highway and even danced on top of a jeepney last year.

For us this is a welcome development. People should be made accountable for their acts.

Let’s make it clear that there is nothing wrong with being funny. There is nothing wrong with people doing silly things and acting silly per se, and even posting online when they are acting funny or being silly. It is in fact a good way to let off steam or even show off one’s talents or creativity.

But when people do silly things or things that they think are funny and in the process put themselves and others at risk, or just cause trouble for others, then that is another thing entirely.

And in the case of the two vloggers, for what exactly did they do those things? For the likes and views? It’s sad that some people think they have to go to extremes just to produce content or get engagement and likes, just like Russian vlogger Vitaly Zdorovetskiy who was arrested for being a jerk just so he could have content to post.

Vloggers ought to know where the lines are. They must be able to tell if what they are doing is funny or not, or whether it is safe or not, or whether it causes inconvenience or trouble to others or not.