Current Events > Can someone explain this recent youtube 'child abuse' scandal?

(+) Yeah! (+)

http://wnep.com/2017/12/05/google-is-hiring-10000-reviewers-to-clean-up-youtube/

Wasn't there some recent like child abuse scandal or something? What was that about
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Perverts were posting sexualised videos of children, not porn or illegal videos, but the kind of thing they could get off to without breaking the law, or dancing on the line. I believe they were also watching normal videos that they could sexualise for their kicks too.
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ew
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i think this is about the elsagate thing

the short version is that there is a Youtube Kids platform where Youtube shows kid-friendly videos that young kids can click through. basically some people discovered there were lots of videos on there with very questionable content.

these were often low-effort, palette swap videos featuring characters like elsa from frozen, spiderman, and other known ones all doing things you do not want your kids seeing - getting mutilated/hurt, getting drunk, doing drugs, having sex, taking a shit, etc.

what happens is that when a kid finishes a youtube video on his iPad, another one will auto queue up and these videos are often part of that. so many of them are getting millions of views from lots of young kids.

example (look at the view count):


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Romulox28 posted...

i think this is about the elsagate thing

the short version is that there is a Youtube Kids platform where Youtube shows kid-friendly videos that young kids can click through. basically some people discovered there were lots of videos on there with very questionable content.

these were often low-effort, palette swap videos featuring characters like elsa from frozen, spiderman, and other known ones all doing things you do not want your kids seeing - getting mutilated/hurt, getting drunk, doing drugs, having sex, taking a shit, etc.

what happens is that when a kid finishes a youtube video on his iPad, another one will auto queue up and these videos are often part of that. so many of them are getting millions of views from lots of young kids.

example (look at the view count):

LOOOOOL WHAT THE FUCK is wrong with people
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Muffinz0rz posted...

Romulox28 posted...

i think this is about the elsagate thing

the short version is that there is a Youtube Kids platform where Youtube shows kid-friendly videos that young kids can click through. basically some people discovered there were lots of videos on there with very questionable content.

these were often low-effort, palette swap videos featuring characters like elsa from frozen, spiderman, and other known ones all doing things you do not want your kids seeing - getting mutilated/hurt, getting drunk, doing drugs, having sex, taking a shit, etc.

what happens is that when a kid finishes a youtube video on his iPad, another one will auto queue up and these videos are often part of that. so many of them are getting millions of views from lots of young kids.

example (look at the view count):

LOOOOOL WHAT THE FUCK is wrong with people

LMFAO
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Muffinz0rz posted...

LOOOOOL WHAT THE FUCK is wrong with people

Making a quick buck off someone else's kids.
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Romulox28 posted...

i think this is about the elsagate thing

the short version is that there is a Youtube Kids platform where Youtube shows kid-friendly videos that young kids can click through. basically some people discovered there were lots of videos on there with very questionable content.

these were often low-effort, palette swap videos featuring characters like elsa from frozen, spiderman, and other known ones all doing things you do not want your kids seeing - getting mutilated/hurt, getting drunk, doing drugs, having sex, taking a shit, etc.

what happens is that when a kid finishes a youtube video on his iPad, another one will auto queue up and these videos are often part of that. so many of them are getting millions of views from lots of young kids.

example (look at the view count):

"When I said "eat shit!", I didn't actually mean ingest it!"
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Wtf
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Yeah, its pretty awful

Though why parents would let their kids browse YouTube unsupervised is beyond me. We have to be almost at the age where young parents should understand the internet, right?
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Romulox28 posted...

i think this is about the elsagate thing

the short version is that there is a Youtube Kids platform where Youtube shows kid-friendly videos that young kids can click through. basically some people discovered there were lots of videos on there with very questionable content.

these were often low-effort, palette swap videos featuring characters like elsa from frozen, spiderman, and other known ones all doing things you do not want your kids seeing - getting mutilated/hurt, getting drunk, doing drugs, having sex, taking a shit, etc.

what happens is that when a kid finishes a youtube video on his iPad, another one will auto queue up and these videos are often part of that. so many of them are getting millions of views from lots of young kids.

example (look at the view count):

Mother of God, to think these people are making bank from this as well. Not only is there some major Copy Right issues here, but these are suppose to be "family friendly" as well. Reminds me of those disgusting silent videos of people cosplaying as Spiderman and Elsa and doing some weird innappropriate shit.
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Mr_Biscuit posted...

Yeah, its pretty awful

Though why parents would let their kids browse YouTube unsupervised is beyond me. We have to be almost at the age where young parents should understand the internet, right?

I believe the issue is that this stuff has infected "YouTube Kids" an ostensibly curated and child-friendly version of the platform.

It'd be like if Nick Jr. suddenly started playing something from adult swim.

Prestoff posted...

Mother of God, to think these people are making bank from this as well. Not only is there some major Copy Right issues here, but these are suppose to be "family friendly" as well. Reminds me of those disgusting silent videos of people cosplaying as Spiderman and Elsa and doing some weird innappropriate shit.

yup. there's also a conspiracy theory going around on Reddit that pedophiles and human traffickers are using the comments section to communicate, because you'll often see some pretty weird comments popping up in the comments section, like:

hi p btw by uh until under uncategorized uncategorised deti ikk C u soo npark ing;lot conijijj buayyy tke lemonide bring her

and if you remove the gibberish from here it says:

C u soon parkinglot bring her

personally i think it's just text bots posting comments so the videos get featured more (views, likes, & comments are all big factors to what videos are queued up next) but then again, pedophilia and child trafficking are very real things, so you never know. creepy shit.
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I'm shocked that those videos were up for any length of time. it should have been reported and removed within 24 hours of being uploaded. surely people saw these videos.

Muffinz0rz posted...

LOOOOOL WHAT THE FUCK is wrong with people

Adobe abandoned flash. Thus, all the Newgrounds debauchery is leaking onto Youtube now.

_Rinku_ posted...

I believe the issue is that this stuff has infected "YouTube Kids" an ostensibly curated and child-friendly version of the platform.

"curated"

They finally gonna get rid of those Elsa Spiderman Epic Poop Prank videos?
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Zikten posted...

I'm shocked that those videos were up for any length of time. it should have been reported and removed within 24 hours of being uploaded. surely people saw these videos.

Youtube's algorithm is...not really suited for this sort of content

Here's a long article on the matter
https://www.buzzfeed.com/charliewarzel/youtube-is-addressing-its-massive-child-exploitation-problem
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mario2000 posted...

They finally gonna get rid of those Elsa Spiderman Epic Poop Prank videos?

The purge has allegedly already begun.
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/nov/10/youtube-disturbing-kids-videos-dark-peppa-pig-children

However, the Streisand Effect happened. Mirror uploads. Mirror uploads everywhere.

Youtubes algorithm has always been garbage though.
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Antifar posted...

Zikten posted...

I'm shocked that those videos were up for any length of time. it should have been reported and removed within 24 hours of being uploaded. surely people saw these videos.

Youtube's algorithm is...not really suited for this sort of content

Here's a long article on the matter
https://www.buzzfeed.com/charliewarzel/youtube-is-addressing-its-massive-child-exploitation-problem

The fuck
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Mr_Biscuit posted...

Yeah, its pretty awful

Though why parents would let their kids browse YouTube unsupervised is beyond me. We have to be almost at the age where young parents should understand the internet, right?

Parents these days were raised on 4Chan
There is no hope
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My daughter watches stuff on youtube but never unsupervised. I've seen the dodgy stuff come up and quickly guide her away from it. There's some cool educational stuff on there, although the only one I really like is Blippi. Something needs to be done about all these ridiculous videos of kids opening "egg surprises" and eating gumballs. Also that Ryan's Toy Review thing, pisses me off.
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triplecactus posted...

My daughter watches stuff on youtube but never unsupervised. I've seen the dodgy stuff come up and quickly guide her away from it. There's some cool educational stuff on there, although the only one I really like is Blippi. Something needs to be done about all these ridiculous videos of kids opening "egg surprises" and eating gumballs. Also that Ryan's Toy Review thing, pisses me off.

A lot of those channels were basically playing off of the whole Daddy O five idea of making videos where you abuse the shit out of your kids.
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Youtube was fine with all that Ad money
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...Google is hiring you say?
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wolverinev2 posted...

triplecactus posted...

My daughter watches stuff on youtube but never unsupervised. I've seen the dodgy stuff come up and quickly guide her away from it. There's some cool educational stuff on there, although the only one I really like is Blippi. Something needs to be done about all these ridiculous videos of kids opening "egg surprises" and eating gumballs. Also that Ryan's Toy Review thing, pisses me off.

A lot of those channels were basically playing off of the whole Daddy O five idea of making videos where you abuse the shit out of your kids.

Yeah there's this one channel of a family somewhere in Asia and the kids are always playing with toy guns and the dad shouts and screams at them for nothing at all and shouts at the baby. I get that away from my daughter as soon as I can.
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if they want money from the kdis why would they make fucking videos that will get them removed once it is found, holy shit.
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orcus_snake posted...

if they want money from the kdis why would they make fucking videos that will get them removed once it is found, holy shit.

Let's play hide and seek. I'll give you a dime for every minute I can't find you. Once I do, you'll get no more dimes.

Would you do it?
What if I was dumb enough to fall for a fake mustache next time? Would you do it again?

Questionmarktarius posted...

orcus_snake posted...

if they want money from the kdis why would they make fucking videos that will get them removed once it is found, holy shit.

Let's play hide and seek. I'll give you a dime for every minute I can't find you. Once I do, you'll get no more dimes.

Would you do it?
What if I was dumb enough to fall for a fake mustache next time? Would you do it again?

Youtubes algorithm has always been garbage, and they refuse do anything about it. Which causes problems like this from getting out of hand.
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Questionmarktarius posted...

orcus_snake posted...

if they want money from the kdis why would they make fucking videos that will get them removed once it is found, holy shit.

Let's play hide and seek. I'll give you a dime for every minute I can't find you. Once I do, you'll get no more dimes.

Would you do it?
What if I was dumb enough to fall for a fake mustache next time? Would you do it again?

Or I could play the game where I keep getting the dimes forever cause there is no need to look for me, which one fo the two games would you play?
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orcus_snake posted...

Questionmarktarius posted...

orcus_snake posted...

if they want money from the kdis why would they make fucking videos that will get them removed once it is found, holy shit.

Let's play hide and seek. I'll give you a dime for every minute I can't find you. Once I do, you'll get no more dimes.

Would you do it?
What if I was dumb enough to fall for a fake mustache next time? Would you do it again?

Or I could play the game where I keep getting the dimes forever cause there is no need to look for me, which one fo the two games would you play?

Apparently that one, at least until someone says "there's a guy hiding over there!"

Romulox28 posted...

i think this is about the elsagate thing

the short version is that there is a Youtube Kids platform where Youtube shows kid-friendly videos that young kids can click through. basically some people discovered there were lots of videos on there with very questionable content.

these were often low-effort, palette swap videos featuring characters like elsa from frozen, spiderman, and other known ones all doing things you do not want your kids seeing - getting mutilated/hurt, getting drunk, doing drugs, having sex, taking a shit, etc.

what happens is that when a kid finishes a youtube video on his iPad, another one will auto queue up and these videos are often part of that. so many of them are getting millions of views from lots of young kids.

example (look at the view count):

That's screwed up. They have pretty big problems then because they were talking about sexualisation on the news the other week. So they have this too.

I'm glad I don't leave my kids unsupervised even on YouTube Kids. My daughter ended up on a weird video once, kids injuring themselves doing roller skating or pranks. That from some dance routine videos.
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Fizaga posted...

I'm glad I don't leave my kids unsupervised even on YouTube Kids.

Youtube Kids should have been entirely a curated whitelist from day one. Someone fucked up.

Romulox28 posted...

i think this is about the elsagate thing

the short version is that there is a Youtube Kids platform where Youtube shows kid-friendly videos that young kids can click through. basically some people discovered there were lots of videos on there with very questionable content.

these were often low-effort, palette swap videos featuring characters like elsa from frozen, spiderman, and other known ones all doing things you do not want your kids seeing - getting mutilated/hurt, getting drunk, doing drugs, having sex, taking a shit, etc.

what happens is that when a kid finishes a youtube video on his iPad, another one will auto queue up and these videos are often part of that. so many of them are getting millions of views from lots of young kids.

example (look at the view count):

Part of me wants to watch one of these vids to see how fucked up it is, but I know I will regret it.
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Blue_Dream87 posted...

Part of me wants to watch one of these vids to see how fucked up it is, but I know I will regret it.

If you've ever wandered around Newgrounds, or Stile before it became a generic porn-tube, you'll see nothing you haven't seen before.

Blue_Dream87 posted...

Part of me wants to watch one of these vids to see how fucked up it is, but I know I will regret it.

The few I've seen are largely just really weird, but perhaps not "fucked up" for an adult who grew up with the internet. But are waaaaaaaaaaaaaaay above anything you'd ever want a kid to see, and are definitely fucked up to even try to get a child to watch.
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Youtube is all over political videos that they don't like, but shit like this can stay up and monetized for over a year. And then when the scandal comes out, YT deletes a ton of these videos in a day or two. So they can't make the excuse that it's to difficult to moderate.
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Damn

damn

Fucked up
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The whole phenomenon is actually quite interesting since its AI bots that are making a lot of these animated videos. This video is long but worth the watch if you're into how machine learning is interacting with human emotion to produce the most clicks.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=921&v=qlNKi5etxhk

iClockwork posted...

The whole phenomenon is actually quite interesting since its AI bots that are making a lot of these animated videos. This video is long but worth the watch if you're into how machine learning is interacting with human emotion to produce the most clicks.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=921&v=qlNKi5etxhk

That's an inherent issue with rising technology. People who don't have the greatest of intentions can abuse it.

CartmanMustDie posted...

That's an inherent issue with rising technology. People who don't have the greatest of intentions can abuse it.

The jist that I got was that it isn't even people running the channels for the most part. It's a self automated money making limited AI.

The AI creates cartoons and then depending on which ideas get the most clicks it expands on that idea.

Example:

The AI creates three cartoons. One has a kid smiling, one has a kid crying, one has a kid pooping. The last two garner more clicks so the AI disregards the former because it has been programmed to only care about the number of clicks a video receives not if the video is morally "wrong." The AI will then continue this process all the way down the line until the videos become what we see above.

Its a strange combination of peoples, even kids, dark psyche being taken advantage of by an AI which only goal is to generate as many views as possible to create money for the channel.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tcdVC4e6EV4

For anyone who has time this is a pretty neat video that goes into the above idea a little more and the unforeseen consequences of AI. Similar to how the people who created the bots that automatically make these videos to create income might not have foreseen that the bot would end up making such disturbing videos since they garner the most views.

Muffinz0rz posted...

LOOOOOL WHAT THE FUCK is wrong with people

Summary of the events:

YT has a "kid friendly" playlist that just cycles through videos based on algorithms for keywords used for kids media. The most popular word was Elsa, so a bunch of people with a bone to pick with YouTube made a bunch of disgusting videos about "Elsa" designed to get caught up in the algorithm and get shown to kids of parents who put on youtube and walked off to do something else.
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There are plenty of videos on YouTube of little girls doing normal things while wearing skimpy clothes or showing cleavage. So yeah, there is some fucked up shit going on and Im glad they are doing something about it.
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ChromaticAngel posted...

Muffinz0rz posted...

LOOOOOL WHAT THE FUCK is wrong with people

Summary of the events:

YT has a "kid friendly" playlist that just cycles through videos based on algorithms for keywords used for kids media. The most popular word was Elsa, so a bunch of people with a bone to pick with YouTube made a bunch of disgusting videos about "Elsa" designed to get caught up in the algorithm and get shown to kids of parents who put on youtube and walked off to do something else.

Real talk though parents shouldn't be leaving kids alone with uncontrolled internet access...
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iClockwork posted...

CartmanMustDie posted...

That's an inherent issue with rising technology. People who don't have the greatest of intentions can abuse it.

The jist that I got was that it isn't even people running the channels for the most part. It's a self automated money making limited AI.

The AI creates cartoons and then depending on which ideas get the most clicks it expands on that idea.

Example:

The AI creates three cartoons. One has a kid smiling, one has a kid crying, one has a kid pooping. The last two garner more clicks so the AI disregards the former because it has been programmed to only care about the number of clicks a video receives not if the video is morally "wrong." The AI will then continue this process all the way down the line until the videos become what we see above.

Its a strange combination of peoples, even kids, dark psyche being taken advantage of by an AI which only goal is to generate as many views as possible to create money for the channel.

Yeah, that's what I'm talking about. You can get AI to run stuff like this effortlessly

iClockwork posted...

CartmanMustDie posted...

That's an inherent issue with rising technology. People who don't have the greatest of intentions can abuse it.

The jist that I got was that it isn't even people running the channels for the most part. It's a self automated money making limited AI.

The AI creates cartoons and then depending on which ideas get the most clicks it expands on that idea.

Example:

The AI creates three cartoons. One has a kid smiling, one has a kid crying, one has a kid pooping. The last two garner more clicks so the AI disregards the former because it has been programmed to only care about the number of clicks a video receives not if the video is morally "wrong." The AI will then continue this process all the way down the line until the videos become what we see above.

Its a strange combination of peoples, even kids, dark psyche being taken advantage of by an AI which only goal is to generate as many views as possible to create money for the channel.

Yeah, that's what I'm talking about. You can get AI to run stuff like this effortlessly.

CartmanMustDie posted...

Yeah, that's what I'm talking about. You can get AI to run stuff like this effortlessly.

Right, but im not even sure the creators of the channel meant for this to happen. I don't think it's any sort of grooming or desensitizing campaign run by people with bad intentions.