YouTube Kids
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Search complete. 90 mentions across 46 episodes found for "YouTube Kids".
Sep 13, 2026
Andrew HarrisonHOST
Which I've never even seen, but yes.
Jon RonsonGUEST
A bunch of people like Greg ended up making these videos for YouTube Kids.
Jon RonsonGUEST
This all unfolded on YouTube Kids.
Jon RonsonGUEST
Basically, the algorithm went haywire and started feeding these, these G- Greg Gysom copycats, and then copycats of copycats, and then these other people who were doing similar content, and suddenly YouTube Kids is, is inundated with, um, this incredibly grotesque-
Andrew HarrisonHOST
Mm
Jon RonsonGUEST
... creepy, and disturbing content.
RichHOST
It really would.
LukeHOST
Um, you should make a kids' channel, like a YouTube Kids, you know?
RichHOST
Yeah.
LukeHOST
Hi, kids.
Josh TabishGUEST
Um, the social media platforms are all rolling them out.
Josh TabishGUEST
YouTube Kids, as an example, is a really great platform that helps you limit some of the design features that parents are concerned about, like auto-loading videos or unlimited shorts.
Josh TabishGUEST
There are parameters to set those.
Josh TabishGUEST
And having gone through the process of setting those up recently, I can say it's really not as hard as it seems.
Claire ParkerHOST
He couldn't believe it.
Claire ParkerHOST
So in 2015, YouTube Kids debuts.
Claire ParkerHOST
It was pitched as a safe and educational experience for kids.
Claire ParkerHOST
Stressed parents could leave it on autoplay, and their kids could watch hours of Peppa Pig or nursery rhyme videos.
Ashley HamiltonHOST
In 2017, a viral essay was published called Something is Wrong on the Internet.
Ashley HamiltonHOST
James Bridle wrote that, "Someone or something or some combination of people and things is using YouTube to systematically frighten, traumatize, and abuse children automatically and at scale." And this was because he had found that when you leave the YouTube Kids algorithm on, it automatically starts playing these really, like, scary versions of kid videos, where first it's, like, a fun little, you know, Winnie the Pooh edit, and then it goes to a video of, like, a man-
Claire ParkerHOST
Should I read?
Ashley HamiltonHOST
Yeah, yeah, just say it.
Mandi MoneyHOST
YouTube can quickly go and...
Mandi MoneyHOST
Even if it's YouTube Kids, sometimes they'll sneak a little inappropriate thing.
Tiffany CrossGUEST
Yes.
Mandi MoneyHOST
I, I need to know.
Joanne CurcioGUEST
So yeah, now we use Audible and he has a whole library of books.
Joanne CurcioGUEST
But one of the things, one of the biggest things that has changed since spelling is that he spent most of his life... on YouTube Kids prior.
Joanne CurcioGUEST
At 19, he was still going through The Wiggles and some other character that I don't even want to remember him because we heard him so much, like some kind of clown.
David KauferHOST
Yeah, we're traumatized from
Joanne CurcioGUEST
I took it off the iPad.
Joanne CurcioGUEST
And the only thing that was there is the regular YouTube.
Joanne CurcioGUEST
Now there's no YouTube kids.
Joanne CurcioGUEST
And I started to put on different things on YouTube like Crash Course.
Alison PerryHOST
It's al- there's always something new coming up.
Alison PerryHOST
The other week, um, we had one of my seven-year-olds, we discovered that she had got up at 3:00 a.m. and had come downstairs and was watching YouTube Kids at 3:00 a.m. And, um, we've decided what we need to do is, well, we, what we have done, is change our parental controls.
Alison PerryHOST
Actually, we've done it on our Wi-Fi system so that she can't even like come down and put on the TV.
Alison PerryHOST
Um, but it's quite tricky because we never, ever had to do any, any of that for her twin or for our older child.
7 MINS LATER
Garth GrahamGUEST
So all of these things, um, are where why we share the concerns and the commitment that parents, um, have to making sure their kids, um, have a safer, uh, online experience.
Alison PerryHOST
You're so right that-- I mean, I've got, you know, a fifteen-year-old who's doing GCSE exams next year, and she has used YouTube a lot in her studying.
Alison PerryHOST
Um, and the government has said that whilst YouTube Kids won't be included in the ban, YouTube will be.
Alison PerryHOST
Um, I don't know if that's still the case, but that, that certainly was in the headlines when it was first announced.
Angela SantomeroGUEST
And now I'm working on Princess Penelope's Purse of Preposterous Things for critical thinking skills, which is what I think kids really, really need right now.
Angela SantomeroGUEST
And that's on YouTube Kids.
Bianca SolorzanoHOST
Well, first of all, I am such a big fan.
Bianca SolorzanoHOST
I am so excited to be just kind of diving into your brain.
EvelynNARRATOR
But Greg's story was about to spiral in bizarre and unexpected ways.
EvelynNARRATOR
In 2015, YouTube Kids debuted.
EvelynNARRATOR
It was pitched as a safe and educational experience for children.
EvelynNARRATOR
Stressed parents could leave it or... leave it on autoplay, and their kids could watch hours of Peppa Pig or nursery rhyme videos.
EvelynNARRATOR
Someone or something or some combination of people and things is using YouTube to systematically frighten, traumatize, and abuse children automatically.
EvelynNARRATOR
and at scale.
EvelynNARRATOR
You might be thinking it was just the work of trolls, bored misanthropes, skewing the YouTube kids' algorithm for their own nihilistic pleasure.
EvelynNARRATOR
But as Chelsea Weber Smith, the creator of the podcast American Hysteria, has noted, trolls tend to flash little Victoria's side glasses to the camera.
AlbertHOST
Roblox has taken action and banned the implementation of in-game noob scrolling.
AlbertHOST
I think if you have it in your game, you just can't be on YouTube Kids, which...
AlbertHOST
Alright, Roblox Kids, which I assume a majority of these players are on there.
AlbertHOST
Oh, I gotta doom scroll a little bit.
36 more episodes mention YouTube Kids.
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