Radio silence is almost always the wrong call. Six months is forever online. Your friend nailed it with the 3 week apology. People forget fast when you show up and own it. Hiding just makes you look guilty and gives everyone else time to make stuff up. Two 400k view videos calling you a coward is what happens when you vanish.

Tbh the same thing happened to my sister's jewelry ads and she said swapping the video only reset the clock for like two weeks before it crept back up. What actually helped her was running two versions at once and killing the one that started climbing instead of waiting for it to tank.

40% taller" seems like a stretch, starter's not that deep.