A YouTuber who illegally set foot on North Sentinel Island, one of the most strictly protected places on Earth, has walked away with a fine of roughly $161. He brought a can of Diet Coke as a “gift” for the isolated Sentinelese people and filmed his attempt to meet the tribe.
North Sentinel Island sits in the Bay of Bengal and is administered by India as part of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. It’s home to the Sentinelese, one of the world’s most isolated Indigenous communities. Outsiders are banned from going anywhere near the island, and a buffer zone surrounds it by law.
The reason is simple. The Sentinelese have made it very clear over decades that they want nothing to do with outsiders, and they may have little to no immunity to common diseases like the flu. A single visitor could trigger a catastrophe.
The creator, identified as Mykhailo Viktorovych Polyakov, traveled to the shoreline, stepped onto the island, left the Diet Coke (and reportedly a coconut) behind, and filmed the trip for content. He didn’t appear to encounter any Sentinelese during the visit.
Indian authorities arrested him shortly after he returned and seized his footage. He faced potential prison time under the Andaman and Nicobar Islands Protection of Aboriginal Tribes Regulation of 1956. Instead, he got hit with a fine equal to about $161.
The math here is rough. A monetized viral video on YouTube can easily out-earn a $161 fine many times over, which is exactly the concern. The penalty looks more like a souvenir receipt than a deterrent for the next influencer chasing clout in restricted territory.
It’s not the first time North Sentinel has made headlines. In 2018, American missionary John Allen Chau was killed by islanders after paying fishermen to take him to the shore. In 2006, two fishermen who drifted onto the island were also killed. A 1974 National Geographic crew left with an arrow in the director’s thigh.
Polyakov, by comparison, left with a fine and a YouTube upload.
