Large YouTube children’s channel removed due to possible danger involved children

YouTube has shut down the ToyFreaks channel, which had more than 8.5 million subscribers, on suspicion of endangering the children who play roles in the videos. Children’s channels that may be producing inappropriate content have recently come under scrutiny.

The YouTube channel uploaded videos showing a father with his two daughters in various situations that the children find very frightening or gross, TechCrunch reported. It would have been unclear to what extent the children in the videos actually experience negative emotions or whether they are merely acting in front of the camera. Apart from real or played, it is also questionable whether the children participate voluntarily in the videos. In an example TechCrunch cites, the father sneaks into the bathroom where his two daughters are bathing, then tipples a bucket of frogs into the tub to startle the kids.

In a response to TechCrunch, YouTube says it is erring on the safe side and is removing the entire channel to protect both the children in the videos and underage viewers. It also highlights that the move is part of a larger operation. The creator of the video thanks the YouTube community for the concerns and says his two daughters have been able to develop their creativity and confidence playing in the videos, which he describes as “sketches.”

The channel was number 68 in the ranking of most popular YouTube channels. YouTube said it plans to mark videos that are unsuitable for children as ’18+’, but clearly didn’t think it was invasive enough in this case. Sister channel Freak Family Vlogs still exists, but its portfolio has been reduced to one more single video.

Such videos have been in the spotlight since earlier this month after a post on Medium and an article in The New York Times received a lot of attention. These spoke of countless videos that in some cases are assembled en masse by an automated process and in other cases seem intended for small children, but still contain scary, violent scenes. Now, adult content on YouTube isn’t uncommon or against the rules per se, but the examples in the pieces made it through the filters of the YouTube Kids app through their child-oriented presentation, which is clearly not YouTube’s intention.

Image: Toy Freaks on YouTube via TechCrunch