David Dobrik lost close-to-everything after a Vlog Squad rape allegation. Here’s how the backlash unfolded.

• Insider published an investigation into an allegation of rape against a former Vlog Squad member.
• Companies began to distance themselves from David Dobrik and the group.
• Here is a timeline of the swift backlash to the allegation.
• Visit Insider's homepage for more stories.

The YouTube landscape has changed in the days since Insider's Kat Tenbarge published an investigation into an allegation of sexual assault against a former member of David Dobrik's Vlog Squad.

Dobrik has since been temporarily demonetized by the video platform where he has 18.5 million subscribers, after Dominykas Zeglaitis, also known as "Durte Dom," was accused of raping a woman on the night Dobrik's group filmed and uploaded a YouTube video about group sex. The woman, identified with the pseudonym Hannah in the article, described being "blackout" drunk and told Insider that Zeglaitis raped her while she was unconscious.

The rape allegation has led brands to cut ties with Dobrik and other members of the creative collective, and it sent the future plans for Dispo, the photo-sharing app Dobrik co-founded, into turmoil. "David Dobrik" was one of the top 10 search terms on Google and also trended on Twitter in the article's wake.

A lawyer for Dobrik previously told Insider in a statement, "Anyone who knows him knows he does not condone misconduct in any form. Vlog participants provide consent before anything is posted. Whenever consent is retracted, posts are removed. Any insinuation of wrongdoing is inaccurate and defamatory."

Dobrik later responded in his own words in two apology videos.

Here's a timeline of how Dobrik and his financial partners reacted to the allegation.

March 16: Dobrik posts his first apology video after Insider publishes its investigation

On March 16, Dobrik posted a YouTube apology video on his podcast channel that referenced "stuff with Dom," the member accused of rape in the Insider investigation released the same day. He also directly apologized to former Vlog Squad member Seth Francios, who recently told Insider he was traumatized during his time in the creator collective after a prank seemingly left him kissing a man when he says he only consented to kissing a woman.

But social-media users were quick to call Dobrik's apology video, titled "Let's Talk," disingenuous, considering the podcast channel has a significantly lower subscriber count from his main channel and he turned off the comments section.

March 19: Dobrik's channel sheds videos and views

According to Social Blade, a website that tracks social-media data, Dobrik lost 66 million views in one day. On March 19, he had 621 videos and 8,269,665,818 total views, but as of March 20, he dropped down to 616 videos and 8,203,005,095 total views, suggesting that videos were deleted or removed from his channel. He's also lost hundreds of thousands of subscribers.

As of March 30, he's lost a total of 2.3 billion views in the last 30 days, according to Social Blade. It was not immediately clear whether Dobrik or YouTube was removing these videos. Dobrik and YouTube did not respond to requests for comment regarding the removal of the videos.

March 20: Angel City Football Club cuts ties with Dobrik

-Meg Linehan (@itsmeglinehan) March 20, 2021

Angel City Football Club President Julie Uhrman announced via an internal letter, made public by sports journalist Meg Linehan, that said Dobrik was "no longer an owner" of the soccer team.

"I want to address the current events with one of our owners and the steps we took to ensure we live up to Who We Are," Uhrman wrote in the letter. "Angel City was built to lead by example, to set higher expectations, and to do the right thing, even when the right thing is hard. To that end, David Dobrik is no longer an owner of Angel City."

Olympic skier Lindsay Vonn, Serena Williams, Natalie Portman, Tennis legend Billie Jean King, and Los Angeles Sparks star Candace Parker are among the team's investors.

March 22: Spark Capital departs Dispo

Venture capital firm Spark Capital, which led the photo app's Series A funding round that earned $20 million, announced on March 22 that it would end its partnership with the app and Dobrik. "We have stepped down from our position on the board and we are in the process of making arrangements to ensure we do not profit from our recent investment in Dispo," the tweet said.

-Spark Capital (@sparkcapital) March 22, 2021

March 22: Dobrik steps down from the Dispo board

Dobrik stepped down from the board of Dispo on March 22.

The app, which he co-founded along with CEO Daniel Liss and Natalie Mariduena was previously valued at over $200 million.

March 22: More Dispo investors part ways and pledge donations

Multiple venture capital firms announced plans to distance themselves from Dispo after Spark's decision, as Insider's Margaux MacColl reported.

Alexis Ohanian's firm Seven Seven Six said it would donate profits from their Dispo investment to "an organization working with survivors of sexual assault."

-7️⃣7️⃣6️⃣ (@sevensevensix) March 22, 2021

Lime CEO Wayne Ting made a similar announcement. "Immediately after reading about these allegations last week, I reached out to the company and pulled out of all future funding rounds," Ting previously told MacColl in a statement. "I have also committed to donate any return on my investment to organizations focused on supporting survivors of sexual assault."

March 23: 13 brands confirm they've split from Dobrik

By March 23, 13 brands confirmed that they'd split from Dobrik or said they had no future plans to work with him.

Insider compiled a list of all the brands who have confirmed that they are no longer working with Dobrik, which includes HelloFresh, EA Sports, Dollar Shave Club, DoorDash, Chipotle, General Mills, HBO Max, Facebook, Audible, Bumble, Frank's RedHot, Honey, and Postmates.

March 23: Dobrik apologizes again

Dobrik uploaded a second apology video to his main YouTube channel on March 23. The seven-minute video directly addressed the controversy surrounding the sexual-assault allegation against Zeglaitis.

"I want to apologize to her and her friends for ever putting them in an environment that I enabled that made them feel like their safety and values were compromised," Dobrik said referring to Hannah. "I'm so sorry."

He also said would be taking a "serious" break from social media.

March 25: YouTube demonetizes Dobrik's videos

Insider's Kat Tenbarge and Tyler Sonnemaker reported that YouTube suspended monetization on Dobrik's three channels. This included his main channel, his second channel ("David Dobrik Too"), and the channel for his "Views" podcast, which he co-hosts with Vlog Squad member Jason Nash. The platform also announced Zeglaitis' main channel would be demonetized.

"We have strict policies that prohibit sexual harassment on YouTube and take allegations of sexual assault very seriously," a YouTube spokesperson told Insider.