Thousands of videos on YouTube are masquerading as popular children's cartoons like Peppa Pig and Frozen, but contain disturbing and inappropriate content. Parent and journalist Laura June discovered this when her three-year-old daughter watched a video featuring Peppa Pig that quickly turned dark, with a sadistic dentist pulling teeth and distressed crying.
BBC Trending has found hundreds of similar videos using characters from Disney's Frozen, Minions, Doc McStuffins, Thomas the Tank Engine, and more. While some are parodies for mature audiences or unauthorised copies, many contain graphic violence and toilet humour that can pass for real cartoons, especially to children.
One channel, 'Toys and Funny Kids Surprise Eggs', is among the top 100 most watched YouTube accounts globally, with over 5 billion views. Its videos include titles like 'FROZEN ELSA HUGE SNOT' and 'BLOODY ELSA: Frozen Elsa's Arm is Broken by Spiderman'. The channel did not respond to requests for comment.
YouTube stated that flagged videos are manually reviewed 24/7 and removed within hours. They recommend using the YouTube Kids app and turning on restricted mode. Professor Sonia Livingstone of the London School of Economics said parents should be able to trust that content labelled as children's cartoons is safe, and called for better child protection measures.
