Mums issue stark warning about ‘dark Peppa Pig' videos going viral on YouTube set out to target and terrify your kids
PARENTS have issued a stark warning about 'dark Peppa Pig' videos that are going viral online.
The famous cartoon pig is adored and often watched on YouTube by many young children around the country, but now depraved creators are taking advantage of Peppa Pig 's popularity and creating harmful versions of the iconic show.
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The horror videos, which are set to target and terrify young children, have racked up millions of views on the video sharing platform.
Pranksters have used genuine Peppa Pig episodes and re-dubbed sections of them to include shameful content.
Numerous clips showed the iconic character and her family holding machine guns.
Another saw the family cooking Peppa Pig in a pancake and eating her.
Meanwhile, as reported by the Daily Mail, another twisted video showed the cartoon pig snorting cocaine.
A YouTube spokesperson has since confirmed that two viral clips have been taken down, but there are still numerous videos floating around that millions of children may have been exposed to them.
A spokesperson told the Mirror: 'We've removed both videos from YouTube and terminated a channel for violating our child safety policies, which we rigorously enforce.'
Such 'Dark Peppa Pig' videos first came to light in 2017, when an investigation by the BBC found hundreds of harmful clips on YouTube which appeared to be episodes of Peppa Pig but were actually terrifying content targeted at children.
In 2018, a mother from Melbourne, named Moonee Ponds, was taking a conference call while her daughter watched Peppa Pig online, but she soon noticed something wasn't right when she noticed the absence of the cartoon character's voice.
As she checked on her daughter, she was stunned to find footage of a kneeling man about to be beheaded, hitting the power button seconds from the gruesome act playing out, The Advertiser reported.
Four ways to keep kids safe on YouTube
Fortunately, Moonee was able to protect her daughter from the horrifying clip, but wanted other mothers to know the 'kids' function on YouTube did not guarantee cyber safety.
Minister for Law Enforcement and Cyber Safety Angus Taylor has since called on social media companies to be more vigilant with its policing of content.
Keeping kids safe on YouTube
RESTRICTED Mode is an optional setting on YouTube that helps filter out mature videos.
It's not perfect, but it's a good way of scrubbing out a large portion of the adult material on YouTube.
However, you have to turn it off manually for each browser or device your child is using – it can't simply be applied at account level.
On your computer, go to the account icon – a little person icon in the top right corner of your screen.
Click Restricted Mode, then use the toggle button to turn it on.
On the Android phone app or mobile site, tap the menu icon, which looks like three vertical dots.
Then go to Settings > General and turn Restricted Mode on.
On Android TV, go to the Home screen then scroll down to the Apps row.
Select YouTube, then scroll down and select Settings.
Choose Restricted Mode or Safety Mode, then select Enabled.
On the iOS app (for iPhones or iPad), tap the account icon in the top right.
Tap Settings then Restricted Mode Filtering, then choose Strict: Restricted Mode On.
On the iOS mobile site, tap the menu icon, which looks like a three-dot column.
Tap Settings then tap Restricted Mode to turn it on or off.
Minister Taylor said: 'I am aware of these types of cases. Social media companies absolutely have a responsibility to do more.'
Meanwhile, a spokeswoman shared: 'All versions of the YouTube Kids app use filters powered by algorithms to select videos from YouTube.
'We continually work hard to make our algorithms as accurate as possible in order to provide a safer version of YouTube.'
As well as this, Cyber Cop's Susan McClean suggested parents could protect their kids by boycotting internet streaming services and instead using DVDs or VCR.
Joe Pritchard's Peppa Pig horror
Meanwhile, a dad-of-two previously expressed outrage after his son started watching an explicit fake version of Peppa Pig while browsing YouTube.
The seemingly innocent video started as any normal tale involving Peppa, George and her parents, but the content soon changed with references to a paedophile dentist, which was of course not included in the original version.
Joe Pritchard, 25, from Cornwall, let his three-year-old son watch some genuine Peppa Pig videos on the internet.
He told MailOnline: 'Jack is three and is in the process of being tested for autism, and we've found that if he watches a show for 15 minutes on the phone it calms him down and helps him relax.'
If a slightly older child saw this, it could be traumatising. There is nothing to warn people that the content is graphic
Joe Pritchard
Mr Pritchard said he asked Jack about the episode he was watching and was disgusted when he realised the content of the video, as he recalled: 'My partner went to the kitchen when she heard the language and turned it off immediately.
'Some of them have Peppa Pig getting killed. We had to warn the nursery that he had seen this in case he repeated something.
'If a slightly older child saw this, it could be traumatising. There is nothing to warn people that the content is graphic.
'I think there should be more control on the internet.
'Now we're not going to be able to let him watch things on the mobile anymore. It's going to make our lives ten times harder now and it's a shame because he enjoyed it.'
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