YouTube has yet another problem with obscene videos targeting children

Summary

• YouTube channels are posting inappropriate content with child-focused thumbnails and titles, in an apparent attempt to attract a young audience.
• Videos lack age restrictions, so they’re likely being recommended to all viewers, including young children.
• Channels like X Studio with suggestive thumbnails evolved from innocent content, exploiting popular characters like those from The Amazing Digital Circus.

Google-owned video streaming platform YouTube has over 2.49 billion monthly active users, with over 238 million YouTube viewers in the US.

As of last year, roughly 10 percent of the streaming platform’s user base was considered to be comprised of minors (not YouTube Kids), highlighting the importance of its battle against NSFW ads that have long plagued the platform.

Now, the streaming service has found itself in the spotlight again for hosting child-focused animation content that often showcases hidden (sometimes blatant) explicit and sexually suggestive content.

Recently, several Reddit users have spotted what appear to be child-focused YouTube channels posting videos with adult-themed thumbnails and inappropriate titles (via Android Authority). The characters in said videos look similar to characters from the popular animated web series called The Amazing Digital Circus, indicating that the channels are clearly designed to attract a young YouTube audience.

Several of these channels with lewd video titles and thumbnails are still up on YouTube, and are likely being recommended to users too. It’s worth noting, however, that these videos aren’t labeled as child-friendly, but they also lack age restrictions.

Accessible to all, including young children

Considering that the videos aren’t age restricted, it is likely that they can be recommended to all, especially young children, because of their viewing habits. Out of a bunch of egregious channels publishing such content, Germany-based X Studio, with nearly 50,000 subscribers and over 11,530,470 cumulative views, seems the most appalling.

A large percentage of all video thumbnails on the channel suggest nudity, with titles like “Should JAX Do It With POMNI?” “Is JAX Too Big For POMNI,” “POMNI Dreamed of Doing It With JAX,” “HOT POMNI IN BED WITH JAX,” and more. You get the point. The titles don’t use explicit words outright, but often include sexual innuendos, especially when paired with suggestive thumbnails.

What’s more disturbing is the channel’s evolution. For reference, the first video uploaded on the X Studio channel was roughly seven months ago, and all the channel’s videos from that time comprise innocent cartoon and animated content. The channel only started posting disturbing titles and thumbnails roughly three months ago. So, essentially, the channel cultivated a young fanbase, only to abruptly push sexually suggestive content onto them a few months later.

It is currently unclear if YouTube will do something about the situation, or if it can even do something. Although channels such as X Studio are exploiting popular characters, they haven’t explicitly labeled their content as kid-friendly, making it a gray area for the streaming platform. For now, the onus falls on parents to ensure they monitor their kids’ online activity.