Elsagate

Elsagate was a controversy surrounding videos on YouTube and YouTube Kids that were categorized as child-friendly, but contained themes inappropriate for children. These videos often featured fictional characters from family-oriented media, sometimes via crossovers, used without legal permission. The term itself is a portmanteau of Disney's Elsa from Frozen—known for frequently appearing in such videos—and "-gate", a suffix for scandals. The controversy also included channels that focused on real-life children, such as Toy Freaks, that raised concern about possible child abuse.

Elsagate thumbnails featured familiar children's characters doing inappropriate or disturbing things, shown directly or suggested. Examples included injections, mutilation, childbirth, urination, fellatio, and chemical burning.

Most videos in this category were produced either with live action or Flash animation, but some used claymation or computer-generated imagery.[1] The videos were sometimes tagged in such a way as to circumvent YouTube's child safety algorithms, and some appeared on YouTube Kids. These videos were difficult to moderate due to the large scale of YouTube.[2] In order to capture search results and attract attention from users, their titles and descriptions featured the names of fictional characters, as well as keywords such as "education", "learn colors", and "nursery rhymes".[3][4] They also included automatically placed advertisements, making them lucrative to their owners and YouTube.[3]

Public awareness of the phenomenon grew in late 2017. That year—after reports on child safety on YouTube by several media outlets—YouTube adopted stricter guidelines regarding children's content. In late November, the platform deleted channels and videos falling into the Elsagate category, as well as inappropriate videos and user comments relating to children.[5]

History

Early history (2016–2017)

In June 2016, The Guardian published an article about the channel Webs and Tiaras, which had been created in March of the same year. The channel showed people dressed as characters like Spider-Man, Elsa, and the Joker engaging in bizarre or nonsensical actions. The videos themselves had background music but no dialogue. The lack of dialogue meant that there was no language barrier to the videos, which would normally hinder worldwide distribution. The article also reported on several nearly identical YouTube channels, including Toy Monster, The Superheroes Life, and The Kids Club. The increasing views of such channels led some to voice concerns that such channels were gaming the system by using bots or click farms to inflate viewing figures to higher proportions, but The Guardian found no evidence to substantiate those claims.[6]

In January 2017, a channel under the control of a YouTube partner in Vietnam, Spiderman Frozen Marvel Superhero Real Life, blocked their Vietnamese subscribers after complaints from parents regarding the content of their videos.[7] The channel's owner was later fined by Vietnamese authorities.[8] In February 2017, The Verge reported that videos of "adults dressing up in costume and acting out weird, wordless skits" had become popular on YouTube, and that while many videos were "puerile but benign", others featured questionable content, such as scatological humor and violent or sexual situations. The article noted that most videos were made with very limited budgets and "a few Halloween costumes", which made them easy to produce and contributed to their multiplication. It also attributed their success to the frequent use of "Freudian concerns", which young children may find fascinating, amusing, or frightening, such as "peeing, pooping, kissing, pregnancy, and the terrifying notion of going to the doctor and getting a shot".[1]

The Awl published an article in February 2017 discussing Webs and Tiaras and comparable channels. They found certain videos—such as one depicting Elsa giving birth and another showing Spider-Man administering a vividly colored substance to Elsa—to be disturbing for children, noting that the scenarios included setups similar to pornographic films. In most videos, the like and dislike options were disabled, making it difficult to understand how many users were actually engaging with them. Many videos featured hundreds of positive comments written by similar channels in an apparent attempt to attract more views.[9]

In March 2017, the BBC ran a piece on Peppa Pig videos showing the titular character's teeth being painfully pulled out by a dentist and featuring the character burning down an occupied house. The article also mentioned the existence of "hundreds" of similar videos, ranging from unauthorized but otherwise harmless copies to frightening and gory content.[10] CTV News similarly reported that YouTube had a "fake toons problem", with adult-themed imitations of popular children's shows frequently appearing on YouTube Kids. The network said that some videos "feature[d] a kid-friendly thumbnail, while the video itself might be entirely different". The network commented that such videos were "often nightmares to behold, with lots of frightening scenes involving monsters and blood", many of which "venture[d] into dark territory, with the characters often being chased, attacked, or injured in a bloody manner."[11]

The term "Elsagate" was coined on the Internet during the summer of 2017. It was a popular hashtag on Twitter as users called attention to the presence of such material on YouTube and YouTube Kids.[12] On Reddit, an Elsagate subreddit (r/ElsaGate) was created on June 23 to discuss the phenomenon, soon attracting tens of thousands of users.[13]

Discovery of Elsagate videos (2017)

In November 2017, several newspapers published articles about the YouTube channel Toy Freaks, which had been created two years earlier by a single father named Greg Chism. Toy Freaks had a total of 8.54 million subscribers and was among the top 100 most viewed channels before it was shut down that month. The channel often featured Chism's daughters, and in most cases showed them scared or crying.[14][15]

On November 4, The New York Times published an article describing "startling" videos slipping past YouTube's filters and disturbing children, "either by mistake or because bad actors have found ways to fool the YouTube Kids algorithms".[3] The Times also found that one of the channels featuring counterfeit cartoons, Super Zeus TV, was linked to a website called SuperKidsShop.com, registered in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. A man working for SuperKidsShop.com confirmed that his partners were responsible for the videos, which were produced by a team of around 100 people. Subsequent requests for an interview went unanswered.[3]

On November 6, author James Bridle wrote that videos aimed at scaring, hurting, and exploiting children were common on YouTube. He also said that the videos, which were produced by algorithm-driven content creators, mixed up popular tropes, characters, and keywords, making videos with real people resemble automated content.[4] On November 9, members of the satirical sound collage group Negativland published an episode of their weekly radio show Over the Edge dedicated to Elsagate.[16][17] On November 17, Internet commentator Philip DeFranco posted a video addressing Elsagate videos.[18]

On November 22, BuzzFeed News published an article about unsettling videos depicting children in disturbing and abusive situations. Journalist and human rights activist Matan Uziel assisted with the reporting; he also provided the FBI with information on "tens of thousands of videos available on YouTube that we know are crafted to serve as eye candy for perverted, creepy adults, online predators to indulge in their child fantasies".[19]

On November 23, French-Canadian outlet Tabloïd released a video investigation on Toy Monster, a channel linked to Webs and Tiaras. They confronted the videos' creators—based out of the south shore of Quebec City—who refused to be interviewed. One of the actors featured in the videos anonymously stated that he was contractually obligated to refrain from commenting. The investigation revealed that identical content was being posted on numerous channels apparently operated by the same people.[20]

Effect on children

The New York Times quoted pediatrics professor Michael Rich, who stated that Elsagate videos were potentially harmful to children because the "characters they thought they knew and trusted" were shown behaving in improper or violent manners.[3]

Response from YouTube

In August 2017, YouTube announced new guidelines on content and monetization. In an ongoing series of efforts to demonetize controversial and offensive videos, YouTube announced that creators could not monetize videos that "made inappropriate use of family-friendly characters".[21] In November of the same year, YouTube announced "a new policy that age restricts this content in the YouTube main app when flagged".[21]

The controversy extended to channels that featured actual children who sometimes performed inappropriate or dangerous activities under the guidance of adults. YouTube terminated the channel Toy Freaks, which featured Greg Chism potentially abusing his two daughters.[22][23][24] Chism was subsequently investigated by child-protection officials in Illinois and Missouri for alleged child abuse.[14][25][26] In December 2017, authorities announced that Chism would not face criminal charges.[27] Before its removal, the channel had over 8.5 million subscribers.[22][23][24]

Forbes, Variety, and The Times also reported that many videos featuring minors—frequently uploaded by children themselves and showing innocent content—had attracted comments from pedophiles and other groups. Some of these videos were monetized. As a result of the controversy, several major advertisers froze spending on YouTube, forcing YouTube to ban children from the platform, which cited its legal obligations.[28][29][30]

On November 22, 2017, YouTube announced that it had deleted over 50 channels and thousands of videos that did not meet its new guidelines.[31] On November 27, the company said in a statement to BuzzFeed News that it had "terminated more than 270 accounts and removed over 150,000 videos", "turned off comments on more than 625,000 videos targeted by child predators", and "removed ads from nearly 2 million videos and over 50,000 channels masquerading as family-friendly content".[32] Forbes contributor Dani Di Placido wrote that many problematic videos could still be seen on the platform, and that "the sheer volume of videos hastily deleted from the site prove that YouTube's algorithms were utterly ineffective at protecting young children".[28]

See also

References
  1. Popper, Ben (February 20, 2017). "Adults dressed as superheroes is YouTube's new, strange, and massively popular genre". The Verge. Archived from the original on June 2, 2023. Retrieved September 27, 2023.
  2. "Does 'Elsagate' prove YouTube is too big to control?". The Week. November 25, 2017. Archived from the original on December 1, 2017. Retrieved November 21, 2017.
  3. Maheshwari, Sapna (November 4, 2017). "On YouTube Kids, startling videos slip past filters". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on August 30, 2023. Retrieved September 27, 2023.
  4. Bridle, James (June 21, 2018). "Something is wrong on the internet". Medium. Archived from the original on September 26, 2023. Retrieved September 27, 2023.
  5. Johanna Wright, 5 ways we’re toughening our approach to protect families on YouTube and YouTube Kids Archived 2018-01-25 at the Wayback Machine, Official YouTube Blog, 22 November 2017.
  6. YouTube's latest hit: neon superheroes, giant ducks and plenty of lycra Archived 2017-11-23 at the Wayback Machine, The Guardian, 29 June 2016.
  7. Nam, Dinh (January 18, 2017). "Vietnamese parents shocked over adult content in YouTube videos for children". VnExpress International. Archived from the original on December 1, 2017. Retrieved November 24, 2017.
  8. Vietnam man fined for suggestive YouTube parody channel Archived 2017-11-23 at the Wayback Machine, Tuoi Tre News, 19 January 2017.
  9. Rachel Deal, The Ballad Of Elsa And Spiderman Archived 2017-12-01 at the Wayback Machine, TheAwl.com, 23 February 2017.
  10. "The disturbing YouTube videos that are tricking children". BBC News. March 27, 2017. Archived from the original on June 26, 2019. Retrieved April 27, 2018.
  11. Fake toons: Kids falling prey to adult parodies of popular children's shows Archived 2017-12-01 at the Wayback Machine, CTV News, 28 March 2017.
  12. 'ElsaGate' hashtag calling attention to disturbing YouTube content Archived 2017-11-23 at the Wayback Machine, WGN9, 26 July 2017.
  13. Elsagate: The disturbing YouTube trend that might be terrifying your children Archived 2017-11-26 at the Wayback Machine, Newshub, 24 November 2017.
  14. "YouTuber with ties to St. Louis allegedly under investigation for questionable videos". KSDK. December 1, 2017. Retrieved December 3, 2017.
  15. Koerber, Brian (November 11, 2017). "YouTube bans the creepy and weird kid channel 'Toy Freaks'". Mashable. Archived from the original on January 19, 2018. Retrieved January 25, 2018.
  16. Episode downloadable at negativland.com's OTE files Archived 2018-01-07 at the Wayback Machine.
  17. Negativland, "Six Hours of Content Together Through Life Archived 2019-02-03 at the Wayback Machine". Facebook post dated 1 December 2017.
  18. Why We Need To Talk About The Insane YouTube Kids Problem Archived 2017-11-23 at the Wayback Machine, 17 November 2017.
  19. Warzel, Charlie (November 22, 2017). "YouTube Is Addressing Its Massive Child Exploitation Problem". BuzzFeed. Archived from the original on November 22, 2017. Retrieved November 22, 2017.
  20. Derrière le masque de Spiderman(in French), Tabloid, 23 November 2017.
  21. Popper, Ben (November 9, 2017). "YouTube says it will crack down on bizarre videos targeting children". The Verge. Archived from the original on November 16, 2017. 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 and police this genre.
  22. Todd Spangler, YouTube Terminates Toy Freaks Channel Amid Broader Crackdown on Disturbing Kids’ Content Archived 2018-01-29 at the Wayback Machine, Variety, 17 November 2017.
  23. Sarah Templeton, Disturbing 'ElsaGate', 'Toy Freaks' videos removed from YouTube after abuse allegations Archived 2017-11-24 at the Wayback Machine, Newshub, 22 November 2017.
  24. Charlie Warzel, YouTube Is Addressing Its Massive Child Exploitation Problem Archived 2017-11-29 at the Wayback Machine, BuzzFeed, 22 November 2017.
  25. Gibbons, Katie (November 30, 2017). "Toy Freaks YouTube video father Greg Chism faces abuse inquiry". The Times. Archived from the original on December 3, 2017. Retrieved December 3, 2017.
  26. Smidt, Remy (November 30, 2017). "Authorities Say YouTube's Toy Freaks Dad Is Under Investigation — But They Won't Say Who's In Charge". BuzzFeed News. Archived from the original on December 3, 2017. Retrieved December 3, 2017.
  27. Gutelle, Sam (December 7, 2017). "After Investigation, Father Behind Terminated YouTube Channel Toy Freaks Won't Face Criminal Charges". Tubefilter. Archived from the original on June 30, 2018. Retrieved June 30, 2018.
  28. Dani Di Placido, YouTube's "Elsagate" Illuminates The Unintended Horrors Of The Digital Age Archived 2017-12-01 at the Wayback Machine, Forbes, 28 November 2017.
  29. Todd Spangler, YouTube Faces Advertiser Boycott Over Videos With Kids That Attracted Sexual Predators Archived 2018-01-29 at the Wayback Machine, Variety, 25 November 2017.
  30. Mostrous, Alexi; Bridge, Mark; Gibbons, Katie (November 24, 2017). "YouTube adverts fund paedophile habits". The Times. Archived from the original on November 26, 2017. Retrieved November 28, 2017.
  31. YouTube to crack down on videos showing child endangerment Archived 2017-11-24 at the Wayback Machine, ABC News, 22 November 2017.
  32. YouTube Has Deleted Hundreds Of Thousands Of Disturbing Kids' Videos Archived 2017-11-28 at the Wayback Machine, BuzzFeed, 28 November 2017.
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