Nowadays, side hustles are more common than ever. But a firefighter in Wakayama, Japan is being fined for his double life as a gaming YouTuber.
According to mainichi and AFP, the 33-year-old firefighter who uploaded 314 videos between December 2020 and October 2021. The fire department YouTuber usually played multiplayer strategy games, and had around 15,000 subscribers.
An investigation has been launched following an anonymous tip that “there may be a firefighter doing undeclared work on YouTube”. Because the firefighter didn’t show his face on YouTube, officials only had his voice and what he said to move on. A local official had to go through the clips once through one to gather clues proving the firefighter’s identity. When confronted, he admitted the allegations.
It wasn’t about streaming, it was about making money from it. During those ten months, the firefighter earned almost $10,000 in advertising revenue.
The firefighter’s salary was cut by 10 percent for the month of January as punishment for violating the Local Public Service Act, which prohibits public employees from holding second jobs. “My realization of what counts as a second job was naive,” says the firefighter is quoted as said.
Wakayama Fire Department officials also publicly apologized to the press and bowed to the cameras.
“We don’t necessarily think it’s a bad thing that he was a YouTuber,” city official Hidetaka Amano said AFP On Wednesday. “But it’s the fact that he’s benefited from ads, some of which might be inappropriate.” Certainly, but as mentioned above, the main issue seems to be violating the Civil Service Act. Undoubtedly, this law is designed to prevent public officials from making money from advertising – no matter how appropriate or inappropriate – as a side hustle.
Amano added that the firefighter’s YouTube hype “betrayed the trust of Wakayama residents.”
.
