Horror as 'dark Peppa Pig' videos that are terrifying kids rack up millions of views on YouTube

Daily Mail​

a day ago

Parents are being warned about 'Dark Peppa Pig' after horror videos began circulating online to target terrified children.
The famous cartoon pig is often watched on YouTube by young children but now depraved creators on the channel are taking advantage of Peppa Pig's popularity and creating harmful versions of the show.
One clip, which has over 18 million views called MLG Peppa Pig (PARODY), showed the character holding a machine gun.
Meanwhile a second twisted video called 'Peppa does Drugs' showed the cartoon pig snorting cocaine.
A YouTube spokesperson has since confirmed the clips have been taken down, but millions of children may have been exposed to them.
'We've removed both videos from YouTube and terminated a channel for violating our child safety policies, which we rigorously enforce,' a spokesperson told the Mirror.
'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 for children.
In 2018, one mother Moonee Ponds, from Melbourne, was taking a conference call while her daughter watched Peppa Pig online, but she noticed something was wrong when she noticed the absence of the cartoon character's voice.
She checked on her daughter 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.
Fortunately she was able to protect her daughter from the grim clip, but wanted other mothers to know the 'kids' function on YouTube did not guarantee cyber safety.
YouTube has marketed its offshoot as 'safer and simpler for kids to explore the world through online video', but a string of similar instances has proven this might not be the case.
The platform has come under fire several times for not policing its content thoroughly enough, with a number of lewd clips reported to have appeared part-way through children's videos.
A recent incident involved preschool children in New South Wales and Queensland enacting sexual behaviour in school hours after being accidentally exposed to pornographic content on YouTube Kids.
While YouTube claimed the family-friendly version was free of adult material, it has been revealed it's in fact no safer than the regular service.
Inappropriate material was only removed from 'kids' once it was reported - the same process as content shared to the adult site.
Such loose regulatory policies could contribute to the one in five children aged eight and under that now watch pornographic material online.
Minister for Law Enforcement and Cyber Safety Angus Taylor called on social media companies to be more vigilant with its policing of content.
'I am aware of these types of cases. Social media companies absolutely have a responsibility to do more,' Minister Taylor said.
'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,' a spokeswoman said.
Digital expert Dr Kristy Goodwin was called into schools following reports children as young as four imitated 'doggy style' sexual positions.
'These four and five year-olds are imitating doggy style, they are trying to force other children to imitate the act of fellatio all in the schoolyard because of things they have been exposed to online,' Dr Goodwin said.
Esafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant said such instances were highly concerning because children of that age did not have the cognitive ability to process the content.
Cyber Cop's Susan McClean said parents could protect their children by boycotting internet streaming services and instead putting on a DVD or VCR.
Meanwhile a father-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.
However, the content soon changed with references to a paedophile dentist and a plastic phallus which were 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.'
Mr Pritchard said he asked Jack about the episode he was watching and was disgusted when he realised the content of the video.
My partner went to the kitchen when she heard the language and turned it off immediately. Some of them have Peppa Pig getting killed. It's happening to Bob the Builder and Paw Patrol.
'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. If you go on kids YouTube, there are.
'I work all the hours god sends to provide for my children. I am going to have to get Netflix to protect my children. They show genuine copies.'
The prankster had used a genuine Peppa Pig episode and re-dubbed sections of it to include the reprehensible content.
He said: '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.'