You Need To Know These 5 Things About YouTuber Austin Jones And His Charges

YouTube musician Austin Jones was arrested on child pornography charges earlier this week, causing a firestorm of online responses.

Jones isn’t a household name when it comes to YouTubers, but he does have a relatively large presence on the platform.

Furthermore, he’s had a prior history with this kind of offense, which makes the charges even more troublesome.

People listed some quick facts about the Jones, and we’ve compiled a quick take on everything you need to know about his YouTube career and his legal troubles.

The Basics

Jones, 24, started his YouTube channel in 2007, but he didn’t start gaining traction until four years ago when he started posting covers and original songs on the platform.

Since then, he has amassed 540,000 subscribers, mainly due to his a capella covers. His most popular video is a cover of My Chemical Romance’s “Welcome to the Black Parade,” which has been watched more than 5.4 million times.

Other popular covers include Twenty One Pilots’ “Blurryface” and Justin Bieber’s “Sorry,” which each have more than 3 million views.

This was a full-blown career for Jones, as his work was also available on Spotify and other services. He was also touring internationally in countries such as Germany and Poland.

He has followings in the hundreds of thousands on social media, but most of those accounts have be shut down in the wake of the arrest. 

The Young Fandom

Of those hundreds of thousands of fans, Jones’ primary demographic was teenagers. Furthermore, a lot of the most devoted were young girls.

He often shared videos of his fans at live performances, such as the one above.

The crowds are primarily teenage girls, and he would often prompt responses from them for his videos.

It’s his young fan base that all his legal troubles circle around. Knowing followers were underage, he would still request explicit material from them.

The Arrest

He was arrested at O’Hare International Airport in Chicago, Illinois, and was described as a “risk to the community” by officials.

Jones allegedly pressured girls to send him sexually explicit videos, knowing that they were only 14 or 15 years old.

People reports that one victim was asked to send a video as a  “opportunity” and a “try out.”

Another victim had explicit conversations on Facebook with Jones, who pressured her to show her dedication for him as fan.

“In the next one, you have to prove you’re my biggest fan. I know you can do it!” he allegedly wrote in the chat. “How amazing that would be for you!! To have your favorite singer spanking your a–! If you’re lucky, maybe I’d let you suck my d—.”

Furthermore, Jones seemed obsessed with the fact the victims were underage. In the videos requested, he allegedly told one victim “Bounce again and smile at the camera while you bounce. And while you bounce, say ‘I’m only 14’ three times throughout the video.”

If he is convicted of the crimes, he faces a minimum of 15 years in prison.

The Previous Accusations

This wasn’t the first time Jones was in hot water for soliciting videos from underage fans.

In 2015, the YouTube community was up in arms after it was revealed Jones requested twerking videos from underage girls. There were petitions and an outcry from fellow YouTubers, and Jones eventually apologized and admitted wrongdoing.

“It’s not something that I’m proud of, it’s not something that I think is right, and I shouldn’t have done it,” he said in a video.

Twitter users who originally stood up to Jones are happy he’s finally facing justice for his rash of crimes.

“I can’t even express how happy I am that Austin Jones is finally being stopped and his actions are no longer being defended,” YouTuber Damon Fizzy said after the arrest. “Two years ago when I called Austin Jones out, I was told I’d receive jail time, I’d be responsible if he killed [himself], got kicked off tour. It’s crazy the backlash I received versus now. I was literally treated worse than the person who uses his underage fans for sexual gain.”

The Defense

Jones’ defense attorney seems to be painting a picture of a naive young man who isn’t a danger to others.

“He’s a scared young man,” his attorney, Gerardo S. Gutierrez, said in statement to People.

After his sentencing hearing, Jones was released on bail. He has apparently been barred from using the Internet, including social media, and must remain at home under the guardianship of his mother.

Jones has not posted on his Twitter or YouTube accounts since his arrest.