Sign On And Take Part In Something Real : Inside The Dark, Lucrative World Of Russian Trash-Streaming rferl.org - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from rferl.org Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Jonny Tickle Two months after a Russian livestreamer’s girlfriend died on YouTube, the country’s internet community lost another popular character. On Thursday, a man known as “Grandfather” passed away on air in front of around 150 viewers.
According to Smolensk-based online outlet Readovka, Yury Dushechkin was a regular feature on ‘First Step to YouTube’ – a channel that became well known locally for live footage taking advantage of the vulnerable. It falls under the now-infamous category of ‘trash streams,’ in which people do whatever is asked of them in return for a donation. These dares are often humiliating, and target those desperate for money. The website first reported on the channel in 2017, when the owner would pay homeless people to drink alcohol or hot sauce on camera.