We Need To Talk About The Disturbing Exploitation Of Kids On YouTube...

I've always found the exploitation of children on YouTube disgusting. Glad to see that YouTube is doing something to stop this, however they should've never created a situation where people can legally exploit their children for money in the first place. EDIT: Figured this needed to be added, because many of your replies are clearly missing the point. We're not even talking about YouTube's content being inappropriate for children, particularly on YouTube kids. That conversation was several videos ago, catch up! We're talking about YouTube incentivizing the exploitation of children by allowing these channels to make money off it. Not only that, YouTube is also making a profit off the exploitation of these kids. It's not YouTube's job to monitor what your children are watching, in this I completely agree. But that's not what we're talking about. It very much is YouTube's job to ensure that people can't make money on this site off the abuse of the children. Show less REPLY

I came across Toy Freaks when reading an article about this whole situation and it made me so incredibly uncomfortable. I'm glad to hear the channel has been removed.

Philip. I am 52 y.o. been involved in technology since 1982. Spent 6 years in the U.S. Marines. I manage a large group of technology professionals. It took me many years to accept YouTube and platforms like it as helpful and informative news. I would like to thank you for doing a great job discussing various topics that are important in the cyber world and in the real world. You bring a air of real news and information in a nice digestible package without the noise...To me you have set the standard by which all others in your category should start AND by which all others should recognized when working in their own genre. You have a fan here. All the best.

Honestly. I feel kinda sick from hearing all the sick shit the parents do to the kids. What are the kids gonna think when they turn 18 and look back on the videos that were made on them? Are they gonna think it was sick? Are they gonna be ok with it? Are they gonna feel bad about it? This makes me really upset

Lot of Daddy O'Fives out there 0.0

I am saddened and disgusted right now, my 6 year old daughter watched the freaky family videos and I always thought it was strange of the dad acting like a baby and sometimes allowing his daughters to slap him in the face with like a spatula, but I never saw anything truly bad from the parts I saw. Just thought it was strange a grown man pretending to be a baby. But that's my grown adult mind seeing it as weird. Where as I knew my daughter was just laughing at the silliness of it. Hearing the things u have said today about some of the things, and knowing you tube shut his channel down makes me realize that just skimming and occasionally watching over my kids shoulder as they watch you tube (on restricted mode) just isn't enough, I need to be more thorough.

Why can’t we block channels, like YouTubers can block ppl from their channels - that would be we taking bigger control of what our kids can watch or not... 💖

I saw some clips of Toyfreaks and it reminded me quite a bit of DaddyOfive. The clip I saw was of him throwing various animals (frogs, snakes) into their bath. The last video in this bizarre timeline had him put a lobster in their bath. The older sister put herself in front of the younger, warning her not to freak out. She let the other girl hide behind her while putting on a smile and saying how “cool” it was. It was clear that she understood, even at her young age, that the father want them to freak out and wanted to take that power away from him. It was disgusting.

And this is why internet restrictions for children can be a good thing

So thankful they're finally doing something about this. I have a family channel, but anytime my 8 year old doesn't wanna film, we don't. Period. Even if we're in the middle of it, and she asks me to turn off the camera, no questions... it's off.

I think the thing that shocks me the most, isn't the fact that people like Daddy of Five or this channel right now exist, but that there are viewers who follow these people and watch these videos and maybe find them disturbing and instead of reporting them they just click exit - or even worse: people who enjoy them. Wtf

"I don't want to shame YouTube. They're trying..." as in they're trying after they received tons of negative publicity. I have had every video at some point get the yellow $. YouTube has given copyright strikes before videos are even public - even when the video does not contain audio. They obviously have the tools to prevent inappropriate stuff on the kids channel, but they choose not to.

It's Daddy O' Five all over again.

I really personally don't think there should be a YouTube kids.

Yeahhh I don’t let my kid watch YT Kids anymore. Even the seemingly harmless channels have been skating into weird territory and it’s not something my kid needs in order to sustain life. She can go ride her bike or skate or something instead.

This whole situation makes me extremely uncomfortable and just disgusts me in general

My sister is about to have her first kid (and first grandchild for both sides of the family). So maybe not now but in the near future, I plan on screening videos and creating playlists of actually kid friendly videos for her. No matter how much drains my sanity.

This video couldn’t have come at a more fitting time. I’m visiting my mother for Thanksgiving, and my 3 year old kid half-sister apparently falsely called the police the other day. Then, about 2 hours ago I hear her watching a YouTube video telling kids to “call 9-1-1 and answer their questions.” It wasn’t even an educational video for emergencies, it was just a sing-a-long video targeted at very young children. Okay, I’m halfway through the video now and I realize you meant the video on a completely different form of child exploitation, but my anecdote stands as evidence parents need to be attentive of what their children are doing. This afk “Hand your kid your phone” parenting is dangerous.

I feel like Youtube Kids should only allow videos from companies (like Nick, Disney, etc) and the rest of the content should be screened. If a channel has been screened by a REAL PERSON and the content is deemed consistently acceptable, then they can get a pass in the future to add videos to Youtube Kids without being pre-screened. Will this take time? Yes. But ultimately, these are children we're talking about. They need to be kept safe and sadly parents just don't pay enough attention. Also, comments shouldn't even exist on the Youtube Kids app. They have no business there. They can exist on the actual youtube page but if being accessed from the kid's app? What is the necessity for them there?

As a YouTuber, I never want my kids to watch YouTube :( This makes me so sick.