With over 34 million subscribers and an accumulated 23 billion views, SSSniperWolf is one of the most popular and well-known creators on YouTube with content ranging from reaction videos, to DIY videos and video game character cosplays.

Today we'll take a look at the origins of SSSniperWolf's channel, the woman behind the content, and her journey into YouTube stardom.

Who Is SSSniperWolf?

Alia Marie Shelesh, known by her YouTube mononym SSSniperWolf, was born in Liverpool, United Kingdom, on October 22, 1992. As of the publication of this blog post, she is 30 years old.

She is currently one of the most successful and highly paid YouTube content creators, with over 34 million subscribers and a net worth of $16 million dollars.

Her second YouTube channel, Little Lia, currently has over 3.96 million subscribers and features life hacks, recipes, makeup tutorials, and clothing haul videos.

Creating The SSSniperWolf YouTube Channel

Shelesh formed her YouTube channel, SSSniperWolf, in 2013. The channel name was inspired by the character Sniper Wolf from Metal Gear Solid.

Her earliest YouTube videos include Metal Gear and Call of Duty gameplay videos, and she quickly branched out into cosplay content, vlogs, and reaction videos.

What Was SSSniperWolf's First Video?

SSSniperWolf's earliest publicly available video is a video titled B02 Fails + Funnies #1, posted on January 25th, 2013.

The video currently has over 1 million views, as many later subscribers retroactively tuned in after her initial success on the platform.

Success As A YouTube Star

Over the years, SSSniperWolf's content gradually shifted from gaming videos and soon became a challenge and reaction channel.

In 2015, her Touch My Body Challenge video went viral, prompting a wave of subscribers. As of 2023, the video has accrued over 101 million views.

Content & Style

SSSniperWolf's content is characterized by bright thumbnails with shocking imagery, often including her own face reacting in an exaggerated manner. Her video titles are often vague and written in reaction to content from other creators on YouTube as well as TikTok.

Much of her content focuses on trends, viral life hacks, fashion, beauty, and the occasional music video, though previously SSSniperwolf was a gaming channel.

Her second channel, Little Lia, features more personal content and focuses on fashion, beauty, and DIY content.

Career Outside Of YouTube

Outside of her YouTube channel, SSSniperwolf runs a successful Instagram account with over 5.6 million followers as well as a TikTok account with 19.1 million followers.

Controversy & Criticism

In an early YouTube video, Shelesh revealed that she and her partner at the time had been arrested for armed robbery in 2013.

She was arrested a second time in 2016 for disorderly conduct.

Fair Use & Clickbait

In 2023, YouTube creator Jacksfilms criticized SSSniperwolf for her uncredited use of other creator's content. Her videos are often created without permission from the original content creator, and lack proper credits. Jacksfilms argued that reaction and commentary was not enough to qualify the content as fair use, since it did not transform the original content in any way.

Shelesh has also received criticism from other creators, as well as many YouTube users, for the use of click-bait in many of her video thumbnails.