American Youtuber Faces Jail Time After Attempting to Contact World’s Most Isolated Tribe

Yet another U.S. social media influencer has done something dumb—and incredibly disrespectful—abroad. In March, a YouTuber named Mykhailo Viktorovych Polyakov, who posts under the name Neo-Orientalist, attempted to illegally interact with a protected group of indigenous people called the Sentinelese, according to a statement by Survival International, an organization that advocates for the rights of indigenous and tribal people. The Sentinelese are one of the most isolated indigenous people in the world, according to the organization, meaning that contact with outsiders could lead to the spread of devastating diseases within their communities. The Sentinelese live on the Manhattan-sized forested island of North Sentinel in the Indian Ocean, and violently resist contact with all foreigners. After repeated attempts to contact the Sentinelese in the 70s, 80s, and 90s ended in violence—and in some cases, death—the Indian government stopped trying to befriend them, according to Survival I ... Read full article.