Ssoyoung is the online alias of South Korean actress, musician, and mukbang and ASMR YouTuber Han So Young, who is best known for her YouTube channel Ssoyoung. She also has an inactive Shorts channel, called Ssoyoung Shorts. As an actress, she has appeared in several Korean films and television series. She has been criticized for animal cruelty for showing herself eating live animals and for faking her scared reactions.
Career
Ssoyoung made her acting debut in 2003, and since then, has appeared in films like Ggogdoogagshi (2013), Sowon Taeksi (2013), Romaui Hyuil (2017) and Moolgwoe (2018). She also featured in television shows such as Neilshap Pariseu (2013), Ingyeogongjoo (2014), Hwaryeohan Yoohok (2015-2016), Kkeutaeseo Doobunjjae Sarang (2016), Abeonim Jega Mosilgeyo (2016-2017) and Chanranhan Nae Insaeng (2020-2021).
She launched her YouTube channel in November 2018, originally to post ASMR videos, and became known as Ssoyoung ASMR, which can still be seen on her YouTube banner. She also occasionally made videos about seafood, deserts, and hot Cheetos, however, her channel has since grown to become a mukbang channel where she uploads videos of herself eating all kinds of exotic sea animals. Although her content may seem niche, she is hugely popular on the platform and has amassed a huge fan base of nearly 10 million. Later in April 2020, she created the fitness-related channel, Ssoyoung Shorts, although she is not active on the channel and has made all her past videos private.
Controversy
Since Ssoyoung began uploading videos of herself eating live animals, she has received criticism for animal cruelty. Her content infuriated many YouTubers, vegans, and animal activists, while a petition on change.org to “BAN SSOYOUNG FROM YOUTUBE” received over 180k signatures. YouTubers like h3h3productions, penguinz0, and SomeOrdinaryGamers made videos criticizing her content and called for YouTube to ban her channel. However, despite the fact that YouTube’s community guidelines is against posting violent or graphic content causing animal distress, her content somehow escaped YouTube’s wrath. A
YouTube representative told Insider that Ssoyoung’s channel is meant to bring awareness of different foods and cultures and did not violate their guidelines because such food practices are normal in Korea. Ironically, the channel, Best Ever Food Review Show, which makes educational videos showcasing exotic food habits from around the world, has faced issues with YouTube banning or demonetizing their videos, which they discussed in the video The Problem with YouTube and Food Videos!!! YouTube doesn’t even demonetize most of Ssoyoung’s videos, indicating that advertisers are okay with her content. Nevertheless, following widespread criticism regarding her videos about live octopuses and a pig’s head, with even some Koreans criticizing her way of eating, she apologized to her fan base and has since stopped showing the killing process of the animals she eats.
Family Life
Ssoyoung got married in 2019 and shared the news with her viewers in a video in which she showed her wedding ring and ate a beautiful wedding cake, but didn’t reveal her husband’s identity.
