YouTube

==== Child safety and wellbeing ====
{{See also|FamilyOFive|Fantastic Adventures scandal|Elsagate}}
Leading into 2017, there was a significant increase in the number of videos related to children, coupled between the popularity of parents vlogging their family's activities, and previous content creators moving away from content that often was criticized or demonetized into family-friendly material. In 2017, YouTube reported that time watching family vloggers had increased by 90%.<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Luscombe |first=Belinda |date=May 18, 2017 |title=The YouTube Parents Who are Turning Family Moments into Big Bucks |url=https://time.com/4783215/growing-up-in-public/ |access-date=June 21, 2019 |magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=Alexander |first=Julia |date=June 21, 2019 |title=YouTube can't remove kid videos without tearing a hole in the entire creator ecosystem |url=https://www.theverge.com/2019/6/21/18651223/youtube-kids-harmful-content-predator-comments-family-vlogging |access-date=June 21, 2019 |work=[[The Verge]]}}</ref> However, with the increase in videos featuring children, the site began to face several controversies related to [[Child protection|child safety]]. During Q2 2017, the owners of popular channel [[FamilyOFive]], which featured themselves playing "pranks" on their children, were accused of [[child abuse]]. Their videos were eventually deleted, and two of their children were removed from their custody.<ref name="Ohlheiser2017">{{cite news |last=Ohlheiser |first=Abby |date=April 26, 2017 |title=The saga of a YouTube family who pulled disturbing pranks on their own kids |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-intersect/wp/2017/04/25/the-saga-of-a-youtube-family-who-pulled-disturbing-pranks-on-their-own-kids/ |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]]}}</ref><ref name="Cresci2017">{{cite news |last=Cresci |first=Elena |date=May 7, 2017 |title=Mean stream: how YouTube prank channel DaddyOFive enraged the internet |language=en-GB |work=[[The Guardian]] |url=https://www.theguardian.com/technology/shortcuts/2017/may/07/when-youtube-pranks-go-horribly-wrong |access-date=June 7, 2017 |issn=0261-3077}}</ref><ref name="Dunphy2017">{{cite web |last=Dunphy |first=Rachel |date=April 28, 2017 |title=The Abusive 'Pranks' of YouTube Family Vloggers |url=https://nymag.com/selectall/2017/04/daddyofive-youtube-abuse-controversy-explained.html |access-date=July 9, 2017 |work=[[New York Magazine]]}}</ref><ref name="Gajanan2017">{{cite magazine |last=Gajanan |first=Mahita |date=May 3, 2017 |title=YouTube Star DaddyOFive Loses Custody of 2 Children Shown in 'Prank' Videos |url=https://time.com/4763981/daddyofive-mike-martin-heather-martin-youtube-prank-custody/ |access-date=July 9, 2017 |magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]]}}</ref> A similar case happened in 2019 when the owner of the channel [[Fantastic Adventures scandal|Fantastic Adventures]] was accused of abusing her adopted children. Her videos would later be deleted.<ref>{{cite web |first1=Eric |last1=Levenson |first2=Mel |last2=Alonso |title=A mom on a popular YouTube show is accused of pepper-spraying her kids when they flubbed their lines |url=https://www.cnn.com/2019/03/20/us/youtube-fantastic-adventures-mom-arrest-trnd/index.html |publisher=CNN |date=March 20, 2019}}</ref>

Later that year, YouTube came under criticism for showing inappropriate videos targeted at children and often featuring popular characters in violent, sexual or otherwise disturbing situations, many of which appeared on [[YouTube Kids]] and attracted millions of views. The term "[[Elsagate]]" was coined on the Internet and then used by various news outlets to refer to this controversy.<ref>Ben Popper, [https://www.theverge.com/2017/2/20/14489052/youtube-kids-videos-superheroes-disney-characters-fart-jokes Adults dressed as superheroes is YouTube's new, strange, and massively popular genre], ''The Verge'', February 4, 2017</ref><ref>{{cite web |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |date=March 31, 2017 |title=Report: Thousands of videos mimicking popular cartoons on YouTube Kids contain inappropriate content |url=https://news10.com/2017/03/31/report-thousands-of-videos-mimicking-popular-cartoons-on-youtube-kids-contain-inappropriate-content/ |access-date=April 30, 2017 |website=NEWS10 ABC}}</ref><ref name="NYT">{{cite web |last=Maheshwari |first=Sapna |date=November 4, 2017 |title=Child Friendly? Startling Videos Slip Past Filters |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/04/business/media/youtube-kids-paw-patrol.html |url-access=limited |website=The New York Times |id={{ProQuest|2463387110}}}}</ref><ref name="forbes">Dani Di Placido, [https://www.forbes.com/sites/danidiplacido/2017/11/28/youtubes-elsagate-illuminates-the-unintended-horrors-of-the-digital-age/ YouTube's "Elsagate" Illuminates The Unintended Horrors Of The Digital Age], ''[[Forbes (magazine)|Forbes]]'', November 28, 2017</ref> On November 11, 2017, YouTube announced it was strengthening site security to protect children from unsuitable content. Later that month, the company started to mass delete videos and channels that made improper use of family-friendly characters. As part of a broader concern regarding child safety on YouTube, the wave of deletions also targeted channels that showed children taking part in inappropriate or dangerous activities under the guidance of adults. Most notably, the company removed ''[[Toy Freaks]]'', a channel with over 8.5&nbsp;million subscribers, that featured a father and his two daughters in odd and upsetting situations.<ref name="auto">Todd Spangler, [https://variety.com/2017/digital/news/youtube-toy-freaks-channel-terminated-1202617834/ YouTube Terminates Toy Freaks Channel Amid Broader Crackdown on Disturbing Kids' Content], ''[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]'', November 17, 2017</ref><ref name="verge">{{cite news |last=Popper |first=Ben |date=November 9, 2017 |title=YouTube says it will crack down on bizarre videos targeting children |work=[[The Verge]] |url=https://www.theverge.com/2017/11/9/16629788/youtube-kids-distrubing-inappropriate-flag-age-restrict |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171116090955/https://www.theverge.com/2017/11/9/16629788/youtube-kids-distrubing-inappropriate-flag-age-restrict |archive-date=November 16, 2017 |quote=In August of this year, YouTube announced that it would no longer allow creators to monetize videos which "made inappropriate use of family-friendly characters." Today it's taking another step to try to police this genre.}}</ref><ref>Sarah Templeton, [https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/entertainment/2017/11/disturbing-elsagate-toy-freaks-videos-removed-from-youtube-after-abuse-allegations.html Disturbing 'ElsaGate', 'Toy Freaks' videos removed from YouTube after abuse allegations], ''[[Newshub]]'', November 22, 2017</ref><ref>[https://abcnews.go.com/US/youtube-crack-videos-showing-child-endangerment/story?id=51336368 YouTube to crack down on videos showing child endangerment], ''[[ABC News]]'', November 22, 2017</ref><ref>Charlie Warzel, [https://www.buzzfeed.com/charliewarzel/youtube-is-addressing-its-massive-child-exploitation-problem YouTube Is Addressing Its Massive Child Exploitation Problem] [[BuzzFeed]], November 22, 2017</ref> According to analytics specialist SocialBlade, it earned up to $11.2&nbsp;million annually prior to its deletion in November 2017.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Bridge |first1=Mark |last2=Mostrous |first2=Alexi |date=November 18, 2017 |title=Child abuse on YouTube |newspaper=The Times |url=https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/child-abuse-on-youtube-q3x9zfkch |url-access=subscription |access-date=November 28, 2017}}</ref>

Even for content that appears to be aimed at children and appears to contain only child-friendly content, YouTube's system allows for anonymity of who uploads these videos. These questions have been raised in the past, as YouTube has had to remove channels with children's content which, after becoming popular, then suddenly include inappropriate content masked as children's content.<ref name="WSJ kids love">{{cite news |last1=Koh |first1=Yoree |last2=Morris |first2=Betsy |date=April 11, 2019 |title=Kids Love These YouTube Channels. Who Creates Them Is a Mystery. |newspaper=The Wall Street Journal |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/kids-love-these-youtube-channels-who-creates-them-is-a-mystery-11554975000 |url-access=registration |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190814180500/https://www.wsj.com/articles/kids-love-these-youtube-channels-who-creates-them-is-a-mystery-11554975000 |archive-date=August 14, 2019 |access-date=August 14, 2019}}</ref> Alternative, some of the most-watched children's programming on YouTube comes from channels that have no identifiable owners, raising concerns of intent and purpose. One channel that had been of concern was "[[Cocomelon – Nursery Rhymes|Cocomelon]]" which provided numerous mass-produced animated videos aimed at children. Up through 2019, it had drawn up to {{USD|10 million}} a month in ad revenue and was one of the largest kid-friendly channels on YouTube before 2020. Ownership of Cocomelon was unclear outside of its ties to "Treasure Studio", itself an unknown entity, raising questions as to the channel's purpose,<ref name="WSJ kids love" /><ref>{{cite magazine |last=Martineau |first=Paris |title=YouTube Has Kid Troubles Because Kids Are a Core Audience |url=https://www.wired.com/story/youtube-kid-troubles-kids-core-audience/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190811205146/https://www.wired.com/story/youtube-kid-troubles-kids-core-audience/ |archive-date=August 11, 2019 |access-date=August 14, 2019 |magazine=[[Wired (magazine)|Wired]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=Graham |first=Jefferson |date=June 22, 2019 |title=Why YouTube's kid issues are so serious |url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/talkingtech/2019/06/22/nursery-rhymes-i-toy-story-porn-youtube-thats-kid-problem/1529724001/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190814181002/https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/talkingtech/2019/06/22/nursery-rhymes-i-toy-story-porn-youtube-thats-kid-problem/1529724001/ |archive-date=August 14, 2019 |access-date=August 14, 2019 |website=USA Today}}</ref> but ''[[Bloomberg News]]'' had been able to confirm and interview the small team of American owners in February 2020 regarding "Cocomelon", who stated their goal for the channel was to simply entertain children, wanting to keep to themselves to avoid attention from outside investors.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Bergan |first1=Mark |last2=Shaw |first2=Lucas |date=February 10, 2020 |title=YouTube's Secretive Top Kids Channel Expands Into Merchandise |url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-02-10/popular-youtube-kids-channel-cocomelon-gets-into-merch-and-toys |access-date=June 15, 2020 |work=[[Bloomberg News]]}}</ref> The anonymity of such channel raise concerns because of the lack of knowledge of what purpose they are trying to serve.<ref name="vice kids content">{{cite web |last=Haskins |first=Caroline |date=March 19, 2019 |title=YouTubers Are Fighting Algorithms to Make Good Content for Kids |url=https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/mbznpy/youtubers-are-fighting-algorithms-to-make-good-content-for-kids |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190814182839/https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/mbznpy/youtubers-are-fighting-algorithms-to-make-good-content-for-kids |archive-date=August 14, 2019 |access-date=August 14, 2019 |website=[[Vice Media|Vice]]}}</ref> The difficulty to identify who operates these channels "adds to the lack of accountability", according to Josh Golin of the [[Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood]], and educational consultant Renée Chernow-O'Leary found the videos were designed to entertain with no intent to educate, all leading to critics and parents to be concerned for their children becoming too enraptured by the content from these channels.<ref name="WSJ kids love" /> Content creators that earnestly make child-friendly videos have found it difficult to compete with larger channels, unable to produce content at the same rate as them, and lacking the same means of being promoted through YouTube's recommendation algorithms that the larger animated channel networks have shared.<ref name="vice kids content" />

In January 2019, YouTube officially banned videos containing "challenges that encourage acts that have an inherent risk of severe physical harm" (such as the [[Consumption of Tide Pods|Tide Pod Challenge]]) and videos featuring pranks that "make victims believe they're in physical danger" or cause emotional distress in children.<ref>{{cite web |last=Palladino |first=Valentina |date=January 16, 2019 |title=YouTube updates policies to explicitly ban dangerous pranks, challenges |url=https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2019/01/youtube-updates-policies-to-explicitly-ban-dangerous-pranks-challenges/ |access-date=January 16, 2019 |website=Ars Technica |language=en-us}}</ref>