Weird Kids' Videos and Gaming the Algorithm

Clickbait Title: Video Criticism YouTube Exploitation Meta Commentary Pregnant Algorithm Educational Spam Fidget Spinner Buried Alive For Kids

Very late in the process of making this I decided to change the name, largely because the moment I made the original title "YouTube and the Business of Exploiting Children" public in a promotional Tweet I realized that there was an entire constellation of related issues that I wanted to talk about. From channels that exist to get kids hooked on gambling to parents subjecting their children to abusive conditions as "pranks", there's a lot of shady stuff going on. In that context, weird spam and unsettling videos about poop didn't rank high enough to warrant burning a title that good.

References:

Written and performed by Dan Olson

[lewissmith]

Im like 99% sure you made this video just to read the absurd titles in a calm informative voice

[lindybeige]

So much for Google's "Don't be evil".

[MaxDeaconVR]

For some reason this all seems so disturbing to me, that I'm feeling physically sick like from a long session inside VR.

[Patricia_Taxxon]

This is why I'm thankful I wasn't born any later than I was, I'm JUST old enough to have missed this shit. Dodged that bullet.

[xingcat]

Honestly, I would love to see if, in 15 years or so, there becomes a genre of entertainment that could be directly related to adults who grew up watching this and it's resided in their subconscious memory for an extended period of time.

[jmiquelmb]

Welcome to 2017, where posting a video raising money for a mass shooting tragedy will demonetize you, but churning disturbing sexual garbage to toddlers is ok

[CambriaBold]

It is a trip and a half to hear Dan recite the titles of these videos with a completely straight face and delivery.

[Zanickka]

i kind of shudder to think what your 'youtubes recommendations' section must look like right now after researching for this video.

[wyrmoffastring]

And if you're a preschool ESL teacher, these videos are the bane of your existence, because kids learn basic vocabulary from them and then try to repeat it in class...

[FuckingPurple]

my question is: why isn't youtube removing all kid videos that contain keywords such as "buried alive", "attack", etc.? it seems youtube for adults is more regulated than youtube for kids

[rhy]

No one's pointed this out yet, but it's worth mentioning that "3hUOx5ATuSrN6hwhoKzJSQ" is most likely the ID number (base 64) that identifies the MCN in youtube's database. It's a naming pattern consistent with how YouTube tracks other elements of it's database.

[krombopulos_michael]

I just don't understand how the famously litigious Disney corporation has allowed all this stuff to stay up. Having all these Disney and Marvel characters in these gross videos isn't just cashing in on their IP, it's also clearly hurting the brand too.

[unnatural_log]

When he says those titles, I swear I can feel my brain collapsing in on itself.

It's like I'm having a stroke.

[imice]

now i'm just so worried and scared for these kids who might grow up with bizarre memories from infancy that they can't really explain or trace back but could nonetheless create fears, perceptions or behaviours that are not very good :S and i don't even know what a solution would even begin to look like

[_oe_o_e_]

10-12 years from now, the internet is going to recall all of this as the children come of age. they’ll share stories, maybe some memes. it’ll be a bigger thing than the Sinbad/Shazaam thing.

[kimberly]

I have no idea if I'm growing more paranoid with age but these videos strike me as equally damaging in their content as the implication that they are gaming the system with no repercussions.

Part of what's creepy about these videos is that lack of any real narrative, and the context-less violence that's portrayed just something for a kid to look at. And the weird, fetishy undertones with pregnant Elsa, or Elsa getting tied up for some reason...I really don't know what to make of it. Am I projecting an adult's thought process onto something that ultimately has no real meaning? I just get worried that so much of neural development takes place during toddlerhood...should this be what they're absorbing?

[PedanticPig]

The doctor character who's injecting a needle into Elsa's bottom at 1:44 is from the Alice: Madness Returns video game. So either EA is selling them assets to use, or they're ripping models from games without permission (and horror ones, no less).

[Thatll_Do_Pig_]

If you go find these videos today, the comment sections are all 11-15 year-olds who watched the videos as young children talking about how nostalgic it makes them

[TAPL]

I feel we're gonna need a part two once the AI generated preggers spider elsas hit the shelves

[TreyaTheKobold]

A friend of mine is a mother of four and has her kids watch YouTube a lot. I've sent this over to her. Thanks for sending this out.