Image by Asad Amin from Pixabay
YouTube Kids. There is still a HUGE problem.
By Dr. Free N. Hess
In the last several days there has been a lot of talk about videos on YouTube and YouTube Kids that are inappropriate for our children. One of those videos, the cartoon with the suicide clip, was brought to light right here on PediMom.com. I wish I could say that they are isolated incidents but unfortunately I cannot. My research has led me into a horrifying world where people create cartoons glorifying dangerous topics and scenarios such self-harm, suicide, sexual exploitation, trafficking, domestic violence, sexual abuse, and gun violence which includes a simulated school shooting. All of these videos were found on YouTube Kids, a platform that advertises itself to be a safe place for children 8 years old and under.
Below are just a few of the videos that I’ve found. All of the following videos and screenshots are from YouTube Kids specifically and all were found by me just today.
Here is a Minecraft video with multiple shooting scenes (one in a school) and swearing.
YouTube Kids Video
This is another Minecraft video with a shooting scene and swearing.
This next one is a cartoon suggesting human trafficking. An injured and abused female character disguised as a pet wolf is bought for $400 from a masked man with a simple phone call.
This on is a cartoon with a background song whose lyrics states “Oh she’s hot but she’s a psycho”. There is lots of shooting, violence, and threats to kill in this one.
In this next cartoon a young girl commits suicide with a knife after her father dies and her boyfriend breaks up with her.
In this zombie cartoon friends kill each other out of jealousy.
And finally, this cartoon has descriptive writing about a girl who is stopped from hanging herself. It speaks about standing on a chair and having a noose around her neck.Â
There were just so many that I had to stop recording. I settled for screenshots of some other to give you all more of an idea of how significant this problem is. The following screenshots are of a Mario Brother cartoon where Mario goes into an all girls school and has lots of inappropriate comments and actions. There are also some screenshots of the descriptive explanation of the girl attempting to hang herself.
This is supposed to be a safe place for our children. Unlike YouTube itself, YouTube Kids is supposed to be specifically FOR kids. There has to be a better way to assure this type of content is not being seen by our children. We can not continue to risk this. Let’s come together and find a solution. #ItTakesAVillage. #YouTubeWakeUp
Use the 
arrows to scroll through the screenshots:
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