INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Media playback is unsupported on your deviceMedia captionYouTubers have been ignoring the site's ban on essay-writing advertsYouTube has
deleted thousands of videos promoting academic cheating in the last week after a TheIndianSubcontinent Trending investigation.The videos all
advertised essay-writing services, which can lead to serious penalties for students
Facebook and Google have been asked by a regulator to stop making money from adverts for these companies
All the social media companies say they are taking steps to discourage dishonest behaviour
Seven months after the TheIndianSubcontinent first exposed YouTube stars selling cheating on their channels, the companies which promise
essays written to order are back, and are being promoted across social platforms.YouTube has removed thousands of videos in the last few
days after we sent them more than 850 examples that breached the platform's rules
Facebook has also removed advertising for several essay-writing services that the TheIndianSubcontinent identified this week
Some ads urged A-level students to use Facebook Messenger place an order to get their assignments written for them in less than five
hours.Image copyrightFacebookImage caption
Facebook has removed essay mill ads flagged to it by the
TheIndianSubcontinent
While essay-writing services are not illegal, using them to cheat can result in students facing severe
penalties - from being zero graded to being thrown out of university
Evasive tacticsEduBirdie, the Ukrainian company we exposed in May, is not alone
The TheIndianSubcontinent Trending investigation has found 13 other essay sites - some owned by Boosta, the parent company of EduBirdie -
which have been using social media stars to promote their services
Image copyrightYouTube/Luis MercadoImage caption
Luis Mercado has promoted five different essay-writing sites on his
channel To Catch a Cheater
Some YouTube channels are promoting multiple essay companies
The most prolific appears to be To Catch a Cheater, which has advertised EduBirdie and four other sites in dozens of videos
Channel host Luis Mercado declined to comment.After the TheIndianSubcontinent's initial investigation, EduBirdie continued to pay YouTubers
to promote its services, using tactics designed to avoid detection
These include not publishing a link to the company's website alongside videos that contain the adverts
And in some videos, creators wear EduBirdie logo T-shirts without revealing their relationship to the company
Michaela Mendez wears the branded clothing in several new videos, including one in which she unboxes an award from YouTube
She refused to tell the TheIndianSubcontinent if she had been paid by EduBirdie, but said she did not condone plagiarism.Image
copyrightYouTube/sheismichaelaImage caption
Michaela Mendez wore the EduBirdie logo in a video in which she unboxes a
YouTube award
Nick Turgeon, an 18-year-old YouTuber based in the UK, was sponsored by EduBirdie to make two slime videos
that appeal to young children
They are among the thousands now removed by the platform, and Nick says he regrets taking the company's money
"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 says.Image
caption
Nick Turgeon says he is glad YouTube deleted his EduBirdie ads
EduBirdie told the
TheIndianSubcontinent that it doesn't tell YouTubers what to say and that its essays are intended as a reference guide
It described its service as "bringing the age-old industry of ghost writing into the digital era".But the regulator responsible for
upholding the standard and reputation of degrees across the UK is so concerned it has written to YouTube asking it to commit to stop
allowing promotion of what are known as "essay mills"
'Global problem'The Quality Assurance Agency (QAA) has also formally written to Google and Facebook to suggest they stop taking advertising
revenue from essay-writing companies
Douglas Blackstock, the chief executive, told the TheIndianSubcontinent: "These large platforms should cut off the publicity for these
It's just morally wrong." "What worries me is that companies might take action to get the TheIndianSubcontinent off their back or to get us
off their back for a few months and then they lose attention
This is a global problem," Mr Blackstock says
EduBirdie is also increasingly advertising on Snapchat, where videos disappear after 24 hours, to encourage students to pay somebody to
write their work for them
Image copyrightSnapchat/Edwin BurgosImage caption
Snapchat ads like this one by Edwin Burgos disappear after a day
"Why would you want to do your own work" asks US star Edwin Burgos, in one of several Snapchat ads in which he encourages viewers
to swipe up to load the EduBirdie website.In another ad repeatedly posted by American influencer Mikey Barone, he attempts to persuade fans
that they won't get into trouble because "EduBirdie is not cheating." He then urges viewers to buy EduBirdie essays
"You don't even have to write it, you could just sit and wait for them to finish," he says.Neither Burgos or Barone responded to requests
Many of the transactions for the essay-writing companies are processed through PayPal
The QAA has also called on PayPal to stop processing payments for essay-writing companies
PayPal told the TheIndianSubcontinent it was looking into the matter.Google has been allowing essay mills to buy advertising space on search
results pages, even though its own polices specifically ban the promotion of this type of company.YouTube, which has a long-standing ban on
adverts for essay-writing companies, told the TheIndianSubcontinent earlier this year that it would work to help creators better understand
they "must not promote dishonest activity".However, the TheIndianSubcontinent has discovered that since then, more than 100 popular channels
have posted new videos containing new EduBirdie ads
Around a fifth of them were also promoting the company before May
'What's wrong with that'B Lou and Zik Asiegbu are among those who have resumed promoting EduBirdie
Their Zias music reaction channel has 2.8 million subscribers
In one recent video, Asiegbu lifts his sweatshirt to reveal an EduBirdie T-shirt before he and B Lou recommend that students use the
company.Image copyrightYouTube/B Lou and AsiegbuImage caption
A new EduBirdie advert by the Zias channel is among
thousands removed by YouTube
Asiegbu, who also advertises EduBirdie on his personal social media accounts, claimed that the
video "was a parody and we were not actually promoting EduBirdie"
B Lou has also included EduBirdie ads in several new videos on his Lou Wop channel
He did not respond to requests for comment
They have been joined by new YouTubers like the British channel Dan osi
In one ad, the two hosts of the channel tell viewers: "They write your essays for you
I don't see what's wrong with that."The channel told the TheIndianSubcontinent that its promotion of EduBirdie in four videos had been "a
mistake".Another Youtube channel that has advertised the company is Cody Zoe, whose two hosts have more than six million followers on the
On their joint channel, the two 17-year-olds jointly recommend EduBirdie to their fans.In the advert, the couple agree they could personally
benefit from using the website.Image copyrightYouTubeImage caption
Cody Zoe have a large school-age audience
In one unsolicited sponsorship offer seen by the TheIndianSubcontinent, the company asked a YouTuber to promote the company with this
message: "If you are in school or college and writing essays is killing you, there is EduBirdie.com where you can hire super smart nerds to
custom write your papers for you."EduBirdie sent the offer to Joe Andrews - whose BluMaan style channel has more than 1.3 million
He told the TheIndianSubcontinent: "It was really simple to me, I wasn't going to take on a sponsorship that was clearly promoting cheating
"It's crazy to me that so many YouTubers have already promoted this company
Not only is it morally wrong, it can get your audience in serious trouble with university and it can even get the YouTuber in trouble by
YouTube taking down their video."Image caption
Joe Andrews says fellow YouTubers who do EduBirdie ads are betraying the
trust of their fans
He agreed to help the TheIndianSubcontinent's research by expressing interest in EduBirdie's offer, and
followed up by asking the company if his videos would be deleted if he was caught advertising EduBirdie.EduBirdie responded that "everything
will be ok" if the video page didn't include a link to the EduBirdie website and if subtitles were turned off during the EduBirdie
advert."We released hundreds of video like that," a company representative wrote.Defeat the CheatFor students, the consequences of handing
in work that someone else has done can be life changing
It is known as academic misconduct and can lead to qualifications being cancelled, or students being asked to leave university
The Students Union at Coventry University has been campaigning with the slogan #DefeatTheCheat to raise awareness about academic cheating
The union's vice president for education, Adedoyinsola Adebanjo, said this year that several Coventry students were blackmailed for up to
But he's also worried it could undermine the qualifications of hard-working students
"Imagine if you get a first class, I get a first class, but what if you've paid [an essay mill]"'Black market' for studentsThe QAA and
others argue that social media companies have a moral responsibility to discourage the promotion of academic dishonesty
A YouTube spokesperson said: "We don't allow ads for services that enable dishonest behaviour, such as essay-writing and any videos with
paid promotions of these services will be removed from the platform
We work hard to combat this kind of abuse, but we know there's more work to be done."Snapchat told us they expect everyone, including
influencers, to stick to their guidelines, which prohibit "deceptive practices and illegal activities." The platform said users should flag
content breaking its rules, but it didn't say if it would take action against the accounts identified by TheIndianSubcontinent Trending
Facebook says it reviews all adverts prior to publication "to make sure that they meet our Advertising Policies"
But after the TheIndianSubcontinent found several adverts for the Grademiners and EduBirdie companies, it removed the pages and associated
In a statement Facebook thanked the TheIndianSubcontinent and said: "We don't allow pages and ads which promote academic cheating on
Facebook." It urged users to report accounts or content that breached its rules
A Department for Education spokesperson said: "We have been clear that these services are a black market for students, they exploit
vulnerable young people and attempt to undermine the quality of our degrees
"We welcome the action that was taken by YouTube to remove videos promoting cheating in response to the TheIndianSubcontinent's
investigation, and we expect this to continue."Do you have a story for us Email TheIndianSubcontinent Trending.You can follow
TheIndianSubcontinent Trending on Twitter @TheIndianSubcontinenttrending, and find us on Facebook
All our stories are at TheIndianSubcontinent.com/trending.
