Emma Chamberlain insists she doesn't charge for Instagram messages
Emma Chamberlain has addressed a rumour suggesting she is selling personal DMs for thousands of dollars.
The YouTube personality and Louis Vuitton ambassador sent a statement to E! News on Tuesday after rumours surfaced claiming that she was taking payments of up to $10,000 (£8,000) via her merchandise website in exchange for personalised direct messages to fans.
On 18 March, a user wrote on Twitter, "why is emma chamberlain charging 10K for an instagram DM this is wild", alongside an alleged screenshot from her website.
Emma, 21, said she was "eager to set the story straight" on whether she was taking the cash.
"A few days (ago) I started seeing comments asking why I was selling a DM for $10k. I assumed this was an online scam, as I had never offered to sell a DM for any amount of money, let alone $10k," she said in her statement. "People were saying this was for sale on my merch site, so I checked the site to see if it had been hacked and couldn't find anything out of the ordinary."
She continued, "I immediately got in touch with my merch company Cozack who further investigated and put the site under construction while looking into the issue."
Cozack's investigation found that they had created content on Emma's website before it went live for testing purposes only, including the content appearing to sell direct messages. The brand clarified in its own statement that it was never intended to be seen by shoppers.
"There have been false and inaccurate claims that Emma Chamberlain was offering DM's in exchange for $10k," their statement read. "As background in 2018, Cozack (Emma's merch company) was testing a prospective reward program related to Emma's Merch without her knowledge. In testing they created an outrageous, never activated reward level that was not intended to be active or purchased."
