YouTube singer Austin Jones sentenced to 10 years in prison

The American online star was charged for various offences, including producing child pornography

A screen grab from a 2015 video featuring YouTuber Austin Jones. YouTube

American YouTube star Austin Jones has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for coercing six underage girls into sending him explicit videos in order to "prove" they were fans.

Jones, 26, who is known for singing a capella covers of popular songs, admitted to contacting 30 other girls online before his arrest on child pornography charges in 2017.

The girls were as young as 14, and had been told they were "part of a modelling opportunity, and that he could assist them in gaining followers on Instagram", the Department of Justice said.

The singer had a significant following on social media, including on Facebook and YouTube. His online music videos have millions of views, and he even performed a US-wide tour in 2015-16.

He reportedly used Facebook and Apple's iMessage service to request the videos from teenage girls. Prosecutors alleged Jones also sent messages to two 14-year-old fans in 2016 and 2017, instructing them to send explicit videos.

Facebook shut down his page a month before he was charged due to his involvement with minors.

In 2015, he posted a now-deleted 16-minute YouTube clip in which he asked fans to send him twerking videos. He later posted a video saying he'd "recently come under fire for mistakes I'd made in the past. I used to ask fans for twerking videos – yes, twerking, the dance move – it's not something I'm proud of, it's not something I think is right, and I shouldn't have done it."

He added that there were a lot of "rumours" and "lies" going around following the revelation.

Jones pleaded guilty to the charges in February and on Friday was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison.

Prosecutors last week stated in a court filing that Jones "preyed on [his victims'] youth, their vulnerabilities and most glaringly, their adoration of him".

The defence contended Jones's life was "marred with abuse, pain, loss and death", alleging he had suffered sexual abuse as a child.