PARIS: French police have arrested six people on suspicion of plotting to kidnap YouTube star Inoxtag or one of his relatives and demand a ransom, a source close to the case and prosecutors said on Thursday.

Inoxtag, 22, whose real name is Ines Benazzouz, has 8.7 million subscribers on YouTube, 6.3 million on TikTok and nearly six million on Instagram.

His best known video, a feature-length documentary about his ascent of Mount Everest — which he climbed despite no prior mountaineering experience — has been viewed 37 million times on YouTube since it was posted on September 14.