Deep diving into a niche of the internet is never a good idea, but when you are trapped in an endless spiral leading to the "wrong side of the internet", things get dark real fast.
And it all started with YouTube kids.
Hear me out. If you are a parent, prepare to be freaked out. Because if you aren't already, it's high time you are.
So a couple of months ago, I was at a friend's place. The kids, after much deliveration and back and forth, collectively came to a decision to watch Peppa Pig. Innocent enough. So I put in the words "Peppa pig" into the smart TV.
The first video that popped up was, at a glance, a knock off Peppa video. Peppa looked off, a little darker pink than usual, holding a syringe in her hand. I didn't think much of it at the time, but I made sure the kids didn't click on that video because I thought it was some sort of fan made horror film starring Peppa. And that was it, we watched a couple of episodes in the official channel and left.
A couple of days later, I wanted to take a closer look, and I googled the same thing on my phone, but nothing of the sort popped up, so I ignored it.
But my search history was recorded. And then these videos started popping up in my feed, of people talking about internet security. Considering that my niche is pretty much food YouTube and a couple of educational channels, I don't tend to think of myself as at risk for hacking or at risk for an internet security accident.
Boy, was I wrong. I would give so much so go back to that same state of naivety I was in a week ago.
As I scrolled my supposedly "safe" niche, up popped the same video of Peppa holding a syringe. And I clicked on it. And...it was a video of Peppa injecting herself with bleach.
I went from confusion to shock to outrage. This was a video that was perfectly accessible to little kids. And like an idiot, I was so much in shock that I forgot to report the video. I could go back and do it, but I don't want the algorithm to recommend more such trash because I looked for the same disturbing content more than once.
And we have now reached that point where we are scared to type a few words in a search engine for fear of contaminating our daily feed. That is only the tip of the iceberg.
I had not till now thought to use or advocate the use of YouTube Kids for children. I mean, the thing is right there. No ads. By itself, the promise of no ads is a winner in my book. The film and album songs that pop up when the kids watch rhymes on Cocomelon are just plain annoying after a few dozen times.
And now, take a trip to one of the darkest places on the Internet with me, ladies and gentlemen, I give you...YouTube Kids. Yep. I'm not even kidding.
There are literally thousands of videos that are designed to prey on little children. Videos of self harm, suicide, suggestive acts, videos that encourage violence, all with a knock off famous character in the background.
I have seen things, dear reader, that has made me physically sick. There was a video of a baby having its limbs ripped off, a video of Elsa and Spiderman in a compromising act, dozens of videos of Peppa murdering, committing acts of self harm that end in suicide and death, all set to sickening, almost upbeat music in the background.
The fact that these videos are so easily accessible to kids is disturbing. Kids love scrolling, if you have ever seen a kid with a phone, you'd agree with me. So if your kid is a fan of Spiderman, and they happen to see a video like this, two things will happen. One, a slightly older kid will be disturbed and scroll further, but the view is recorded from your phone, and such videos will still occasionally pop up in your recommendations. Or two, a slightly younger / naive kid will watch it, not understand it, and will start exhibiting weird behavior since these will start getting into the feed more regularly. They are kids, what do they know?
So who are these people uploading such content? Two words. Child predators. Who else would spend time and make videos specifically targeting young kids? A significant amount of videos on YouTube kids is uploaded by child predators.
If this scares you as a parent / guardian / caretaker, good, because you need to be scared. If you happen to glance at the phone while your child is watching some of this filth, you won't even realize that something is wrong, because you see Elsa or Anna on the screen. Good old Disney, you would think, and move on with your life.
Now coming to child safety. This pertains to the posters and consumers of child content. By child content, I mean putting your child on the Internet. A photo, a video, personal information, literally anything about your child has no business being on the Internet. Any photo can be edited. A photo that you upload, even in your Whatsapp status, can be screenshot, and then edited. Who do you think wants to edit photos of children? You don't believe me, you are welcome to Google any information I am giving you here.
The number of child pornography websites that have been uncovered in the last few years are a testament to how far the human race has fallen. Blake Lively, mother of three, holding back tears, said that the youngest age of the involved children was "with the umbilical cord still attached."
You see these content creators who regularly feature their kids in their videos, you think it's cute and like and scroll further. But the ugly truth is that most of them have kidnapping plans in place with their schools and their local law enforcement. This is because their child's entire life is on display, and they are not safe in their own houses and schools.
Even me, as a casual content consumer, can tell you about a couple of children. Their names, ages, favorite color, bedtime, how they react to various situations (bad news, eating a new food, birth of a sibling, throwing a temper tantrum). Imagine, for a minute, a stranger on the internet knowing all this information about your child. Your child is not content. Your child is an individual with the right to privacy and safety. Please do not compromise that in the name of views on social media. Your child's worth should not be measured by the number of likes they rake in. They do not have to contribute in this way to your income, and if they do, you have failed as a parent.
Would you, as a parent / guardian / caretaker allow your child physically to go places with shady characters or people you know who engage in risky behavior? You'd warn them to stay off the particular street / area.
Then pray, WHY, why do we have no problems in them roaming the Internet by themselves subjecting themselves to unspeakable dangers?
The internet is a whole new world where shiny new things pop up everyday, and as if it isn't bad enough that we as adults walk around with our noses in our phones all day, we have trained our young to do the same.
For the past three days, I've been trapped in an avalanche of disturbing content, because apparently that's how the algorithm works. If you watch one video, it assumes you want to see more. If you leave a comment, it assumes that you enjoyed the content so much that you typed something for the world to see, even if the comment on question was along the lines of, "This is absolutely inappropriate and you should stop posting crap like this."
I have barely scratched the surface in this post, I hope to get the strength to do a second part about the other apps, for the sake of the children.
If at the end of this, I have managed to instill a little bit of fear in you, I have done my job. I have seen things, dear reader, that I hope you don't have to see, and for the love of all that is good, I hope our children never have to.