Your children might be watching some truly unsettling videos on YouTube Kids. My son, for instance, is completely enamored with Blues Clues. Whenever Steve jumps into a picture frame, my little one is ecstatic. Last year, he began searching for every Blues Clues video he could find on YouTube Kids.
However, if you spend some time exploring this platform, you’ll quickly realize there are thousands of users uploading bizarre “children’s” content. Everything is available, including countless odd spoofs of Blues Clues. Numerous animated versions of the show, along with strange remixes, flood the site. Hearing these reversed soundtracks from another room can be quite unsettling. While I’m not sure what impact such videos have on a child’s mind, I certainly don’t want to ponder it. After discovering the plethora of unusual Blues Clues spoofs, I promptly disabled the search function on the app to prevent these videos from showing up.
Recently, another parent shared a far creepier story. She handed her phone to her daughter so she could watch Peppa Pig on YouTube Kids, only to be startled by screams coming from the next room—not from her daughter, but from a cartoon Peppa Pig undergoing a horrifying dental procedure, complete with bloody extractions.
The unsettling video, titled “#Peppa #Pig #Dentist #Kids #Animation #Fantasy,” was described by the mother in The Outline as “completely horrifying.” While the animation superficially resembles an actual Peppa Pig episode, the narrative quickly spirals into disturbing territory, featuring a dentist wielding a giant needle and frightening tools.
These disturbing spoof videos are alarmingly prevalent, with some of the most popular YouTube channels producing them. According to the BBC, “Toys and Funny Kids Surprise Eggs” ranks among the top 100 most viewed YouTube channels globally, boasting over 5 billion views. Their landing page showcases images of beloved characters like Peppa Pig and Elsa from Frozen, yet the video titles reveal a darker side, including “FROZEN ELSA HUGE SNOT” and “NAKED HULK LOSES HIS PANTS.” These videos often contain animated violence and graphic toilet humor.
Even more unsettling is the fact that channels like “Super Kids TV,” which presents itself as a source of educational content for children, post videos featuring characters like Doc McStuffins transforming into zombies. This content is verified by YouTube and is specifically aimed at children, which raises further concerns.
What Can You Do?
So, what can you do to protect your children from stumbling upon such inappropriate content? First, enable “restricted mode” to filter out flagged videos. More importantly, disable the app’s search function to prevent keyword-based searches that can lead to these unwanted videos.
For a safer alternative, consider downloading apps that don’t house a plethora of unverified videos. The Nick Jr. app is an excellent choice, and so is the PBS Kids app. If your goal in allowing your kids some screen time is to get a breather, choose an app that allows you to relax without constantly monitoring what they’re watching.
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In summary, while YouTube Kids may seem like a safe platform for children, it harbors a surprising amount of inappropriate content that parents need to be aware of. Vigilance is crucial when it comes to managing what your kids watch online.