DISTURBING IMAGES ON YOUTUBE

You might be aware that videos aimed at children have become YouTube’s biggest grossing area thanks to a number of very successful/popular shows.

However, apparently, a very disturbing trend has been reported in mainstream media where unofficial cartoons of popular characters are appearing with alarming frequency with disturbing and horrific content.

It is now being reported that some people are creating cartoons, using popular characters, where characters are behaving in very inappropriate manner  e.g. sexual or very violent content.  Unsuspecting children are searching their favourite shows on YouTube and these unofficial and completely sick videos are being watched by children.  Apparently these videos deliberately manipulate YouTube’s algorithms to bypass filters on children’s searches and the site’s YouTube Kids app.

It is unbelievable that people in this world are happy to make money by exposing young children to images and content that would be rated R18 or banned in many countries.  These people make money as the cartoons are heavily advertised and as they are disguised as popular cartoons, they are sometimes getting millions of hits so the profits are apparently large.  Also, as they receive many hits or views, they then appear in the “suggested videos” playlist so their profile is increased further.

The New York Times recently reported on the scale of the problem and you can read the article by clicking HERE.

Peppa pig, Frozen, Mickey Mouse, PJ Masks and many other popular characters are often featured.
Craig Hollingsworth and I are aware that a large number of our younger students enjoy watching cartoons on YouTube, and anecdotally it would appear they are often watching unsupervised.  Given the risk involved of your children being exposed to some of these horrific videos, we thought it best make you aware of this disturbing trend on YouTube.

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