Thousands sign petition to ban horrifyingly thin vlogger from YouTube
Torrent of abuse for 22-year-old Eugenia Cooney amid claims she promotes anorexia to teenage fans
THOUSANDS have signed a Change.org petition demanding a stick-thin vlogger be banned from YouTube for fear she is pushing anorexia.
Eugenia Cooney, 22, has an online following of almost one million fans.
She has had a torrent of abuse and pleas to get help from fans both angry and worried about her tiny frame.
Nearly 10,000 people have signed a petition calling for her to be temporarily banned from YouTube and seek medical help.
"Eugenia Cooney has a serious medical condition and needs to seek help. She has been influencing her viewers by her serious underweight condition," it said.
"She may not be intentionally influencing her viewers but showing 50 per cent of her body in videos and pictures is not helping girls with anorexia or any eating disorder," said administrator Lynn Cloud.
One critic who signed the petition claims a cousin starved herself to be more like the vlogger.
"My little cousin lost 17lb because she wanted to look like Eugenia. She is now receiving care. She is only 12 years old."
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Cooney, based in New York, did not respond to requests for comment on Friday.
Since joining YouTube in 2013, she has amassed a following of 893,481 and gets financial contributions from fans. Most of her videos give hair, make-up and wardrobe advice.
The softly spoken internet star is also popular on social media, with 432,000 Instagram followers and 115,000 on Twitter.
Among the stream of comments beneath recent posts are many condemning Cooney's weight.
They warn her she will "die soon" unless she starts eating, with some angrily accusing her of promoting eating disorders.
"You look so ill I can see your bones through your skin,' added another.
Alarmingly, other viewers told her she was "fat" in mocking posts. "Lose some weight, fat ass," ordered one.
Cooney's images also appear on "thinspo" accounts and websites. One collage was shared with the hashtag "bonespo".
A Twitter user responded to it: "I need to be her size."
In a Facebook comment on her public page, one said: "How many times do I need to throw up a day to look like you?"
Last week Cooney addressed criticism of her weight in a YouTube video where she revealed she had refused an offer to appear on the US talk show Dr Phil to discuss it.
"I'm just kind of naturally like that, I guess. There isn't really a reason," she giggled in an attempt to explain her size.
She remarked there had been a rise in negative comments and told those who didn't like her content to tune out, apologising to anyone she had offended.
"I just have noticed there is a lot of hate. I just wanted to say since obviously some people are really, really angry.
"I'm really sorry, I seriously never mean to do that. It kind of sucks that so many people on the internet feel like I'm a really bad person."
YouTube would not comment on Cooney's channel. It highlighted its policies and advised that viewers could flag content they thought worrying.
Videos with "an express intention to glorify or promote eating disorders" are removed.
The petition hopes to get 25,000 signatures.
