Over the past year, Sang Vlog unexpectedly rose to fame and became a name to watch. Fans even affectionately called him “Vietnam’s poorest YouTuber” thanks to his simple videos featuring rustic mountain village dishes that racked up millions of views. This nickname came from his humble living conditions: he still lives in a small house made of bamboo and tin roofing, with just one bed for his mother while he sleeps on the floor. Early on, he didn’t even have a computer to edit videos, relying solely on an old smartphone for filming and post-production.
However, things recently took a turn for the worse. Despite multiple warnings from YouTube, Sang Vlog stubbornly continued featuring children herding cattle in his videos. The breaking point came in a September video where two kids playfully hit each other’s heads with empty plastic soda bottles, a game they made up. YouTube flagged this content as “child violence,” which led to demonetization or limited ads on his channel.
While his income wasn’t completely cut off, Sang Vlog faced tough times. His videos that once hit millions of views now earn only about $10 per clip (around 250,000 VND). On top of that, YouTube almost entirely stopped recommending his channel, causing views to plummet. Despite this, he remained determined, saying, “I will keep trying my best. From day one, I decided to film with these kids no matter what. Now that the storm has come, I’ll try to get through it with them.”
But his resolve didn’t last long. Things worsened as monetization was disabled on many videos and views dropped to just a third of what they used to be. This left Sang Vlog feeling pretty discouraged. Recently, he opened up and almost admitted defeat against YouTube. He shared that going forward, he’ll have to reluctantly say goodbye to the kids in his videos to focus on his own survival, even though he still cares deeply for them.
His story has earned a lot of sympathy from the online community. But rules are rules, and exceptions are rare, forcing this YouTuber to make changes.
