American Woman Tortured Adopted Children for Likes on YouTube - Reports

She was running the "Fantastic Adventures" channel on YouTube, which was eventually blocked by the platform and disconnected from the monetisation system as soon as information about the arrest was received. The audience of the channel included about 800,000 people and it received at least 250 million views.

Police in the US state of Arizona arrested 48-year-old Machelle Hobson on suspicion of torturing seven adopted children, CNN reported. As the media outlet informed, she forced the children to leave school and participate in the shooting of videos for her YouTube channel "Fantastic Adventures".

According to CNN, behind the scenes they were deprived of food and water for days, pepper-sprayed and forced to take ice baths.

"They further stated this is one of the reasons their mom took them out of school so they can keep filming their series and they mentioned they have not been in school for years", CNN wrote, citing the probable cause statement.

NEW: After speaking with one of Machelle Hobson's family members, we have new information about the mom accused of brutally abusing her kids, forcing them to act in YouTube videos. I'll have a live report on #12News at 5 pic.twitter.com/3FcNMhjpGg

— Bianca Buono (@BiancaBuono) March 20, 2019

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Hobson's adult sons, Logan and Ryan Hackney, were also arrested, facing seven charges each, including failing to report the abuse of a minor.

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