![]() What processes can be used to make it easier to find and remove/restrict content that appears to be kid-friendly but is actually filled with adult content?.How could a verification process be deployed to vet users creating content for children?.How should content review and moderation be different for content targeting younger YouTube users?.Needless to say, this answer did not make critics happy, and many suggested the online content giant rely less on automated moderation when dealing with content targeting kids. YouTube’s response when asked for comment was that this content was the “extreme needle in the haystack,” perhaps, an immeasurably small percentage of the total amount of content available on YouTube Kids. A New York Times article on the subject wondered what had happened and suggested the videos had eluded YouTube’s algorithms that were meant to ensure content that made its way to its Kids channel was actually appropriate for children. “ Elsagate” received more mainstream coverage as well. It’s down to that level of the metal.” - James Bridle It’s not about trolls, but about a kind of violence inherent in the combination of digital systems and capitalist incentives. What we’re talking about is very young children, effectively from birth, being deliberately targeted with content which will traumatise and disturb them, via networks which are extremely vulnerable to exactly this form of abuse. Those are important debates, but they’re not what is being discussed here. We’re not talking about the debatable but undoubtedly real effects of film or videogame violence on teenagers, or the effects of pornography or extreme images on young minds, which were alluded to in my opening description of my own teenage internet use. “To expose children to this content is abuse. The end result, according to Bridle, was nothing short of horrific: According to parents, users, and members of the r/Elsagate subreddit, some of this content could be accessed via the YouTube Kids app - a kid-oriented version of YouTube subject to stricter controls and home to curated content meant to steer child users clear of adult subject matter.įurther attention was drawn to the issue by James Bridle’s post on the subject, entitled “ Something is Wrong on the Internet.” The post - preceded by numerous content warnings - detailed the considerable amount of disturbing content that was easily finding its way to youthful viewers, mainly thanks to its kid-friendly tags and innocuous thumbnails. Most of these acts were performed by animated characters (or actors dressed as the characters), including the titular Elsa as well as Spiderman, Peppa Pig, Paw Patrol, and Mickey Mouse. At the r/ElsaGate subreddit, redditors tracked down videos aimed at children that contained adult themes, sexual activity, or other non-kid-friendly content.Īmong the decidedly not-safe-for-kids subject matter listed by r/ElsaGate are injections, gore, suicide, pregnancy, BDSM, assault, rape, murder, cannibalism, and use of alcohol. But a much darker strain of content was exposed by amateur internet sleuths, which was swiftly dubbed “Elsagate,” borrowing the name of the main character of Disney’s massively popular animated hit, Frozen. Taking advantage of the low expectations of extremely youthful viewers, YouTube videos for kids are filled with low-effort, low-cost content – videos that use familiar songs, bright colors, and pop culture fixtures to attract and hold the attention of children.
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