After 'fake' Bluey episodes were discovered on the well-known social media platform, there are new warnings about the risks of allowing young children to watch YouTube.
Parents are outraged over 'strange' episodes of the popular Australian show that have been posted on YouTube and feature what one mother called 'disturbing' plotlines.
"Who has seen this"? One mother said on a Bluey Facebook page and on Bluey, "My husband put it on for our daughter, and it's NOT Bluey. "It [Bluey] is nothing like it. Be cautious.
However, cyber safety specialist Kirra Pendergast of Safe on Social says it's a crucial reminder never to leave young children alone with electronics - and to always turn off autoplay.
She tells 9Honey that these bogus programmes might appear everywhere and on any platform. "Parents must turn off autoplay, avoid set and forget, and never put a young child in front of YouTube or YouTube Kids without parental controls."
"I understand that parents are worried and busy, but they aren't at fault in this situation. Please make sure children feel secure enough to speak out if they notice anything that gives them the creeps.
Even while many parents are understandably furious, this isn't the first time a famous children's TV show has been copied with bad intentions.
In one of the videos, Bluey and Bingo, who resemble each other greatly but are coloured differently, pretend to be ill in order to conceal receiving a poor grade in class, and Bluey even consumes emoji poop.
Even if these specific videos have been taken down, a quick YouTube search turns several other unsettling Bluey bootlegs.
YouTube confirmed to 9Honey Parenting that only YouTube was the home of these videos, not YouTube Kids.
Nevertheless, parents are worried.
Of course, Bluey isn't the only children's programme to suffer from these phoney episodes.
Additionally, there are some terrible Paw Patrol ripoffs on YouTube. quite violent. One mother commented on the Facebook thread, "Trying to explain to my daughter who is 10 and has special needs why she can't watch it."
It's quite unsettling! There is an even worse instance of this involving SpongeBob! Another person said, "There's a scene where 'Patrick' shanks a prison guard like ten times to free 'SpongeBob.'"
"I was appalled when I saw this, but I also don't know how to react. What's our destination?
YouTube Kids, the platform created exclusively for children, is likewise unable to completely erase unsuitable content, despite the company's efforts. Disturbing films have been appearing on YouTube for many years.
"Reported videos are reviewed seven days a week, twenty-four hours a day, and, if necessary, will be removed from the YouTube Kids app."
According to a YouTube spokeswoman who talked with 9Honey, "The videos flagged in this article were not available on YouTube Kids, which is our recommended experience for children under 13."
According to a statement from the developers, "We built YouTube Kids to create a safer environment for kids to explore their interests and curiosity while giving parents the tools to customise the experience for their kids."
We have stricter criteria for what videos can be included in the app, and we give parents more ability to decide what their children can and cannot see. This entails the capability to manually select the content, select the appropriate ages for the content, prohibit content, and more.
There are literally "hundreds of thousands of accounts" sharing these bizarre cross-postings of well-known children's characters alongside improper content, many of which have millions of views, according to Brisbane-based cyber safety education organisation Safe on Social.
The featured material, according to Kirra, "is wildly inappropriate, covering the categories of violence, sex, drugs, alcohol, foul language, bondage, and more with generally unpleasant activities being conducted by a child's favourite TV character."
Reference:
Expert's Warning Over Fake Bluey Episodes Circulating On YouTube, 9 Honey Parenting, 9 Australia
