Elsagate is a phenomenon on Youtube of reoccurring themes, animations and videos of inappropriate topics, available and targeted at children.


Origins and a short history

Elsagate existed since at least 2012 but reached its peak in 2017 when the term itself was formed and gained extensive attention. Same year Youtube announced its new guidelines on content and monetization and deleted over 50 channels and thousands of videos not fitting them.
The origins of the Elsagate videos are not officially elucidated to this day, but according to a profound study, a great number of them are linked to Vietnamese media studios, officially producing harmless live-action videos.


The dark side of Youtube

These videos often feature Spiderman, Elsa, Mickey Mouse and other characters popular with kids, either animated or played by adults in cheap costumes. Most times there is no dialogue at all, only background music (nursery rhymes, obviously), and it is difficult to recognize the harmful content at the first sight. Only if we carry on watching for some minutes we encounter several disturbing or even shocking images targeted at toddlers. The list of displayed topics is long and includes everything from insects through violence and gore to the most brutal sexual fetishes. 

At the same time, thumbnails featuring characters associated with kids and family makes it difficult to fight this phenomenon by Youtube’s algorithm.

Today’s situation

As I have already mentioned, 90% of the described channels and videos have been shut down by Youtube, but unfortunately, there always seem to be more and more new ways to trick the algorithm and deceive people for some extra clicks.

Wired did an investigation on the Topic pages of the most popular games on Youtube this March. What they have found was various concerning visuals (blood, poop, violence) in the thumbnails of videos of the two most popular games among tweens: Minecraft and Among Us. These are not officially Kids content, but in practice over half of the most-viewed videos on YouTube, proper are marketed to children.
Youtube’s hashtag system also appeared to have a problem: videos under the Among Us hashtag included adult content, like female avatars removing their undergarments, or their male counterparts spanking them or looking up their skirts. Due to the system, this content is easily accessible from any Among Us video that includes the hashtag.


However, as Wired also emphasized, this is not a direct Elsagate repeat. Most times the disturbing content was limited to shocking thumbnails, the animations only minorly featured violence. Also, other games equally popular with kids (Fortnite, Roblox) did not have such a problem.
However, this clarifies that there is still a lot to be done, and we need to pay attention to the content consumed by children. Especially at the age of 13-16 when they are no longer under the protection of the filters of Youtube Kids, but experiencing intense changes in their personality and maybe vulnerable emotionally and mentally.

Obviously, it is impossible and useless to try and keep track of the contents consumed by a teenager on the internet. What we can do instead is to create an atmosphere at home where they feel safe and not ashamed to share if they encounter something disturbing or unsettling online.

computer with danger stripes
Countries this relates to
Language of materials

Childhub

You might like..

yes
0
122
The roundtable discussion on the domestic legislation setting the framework for the care of refugee children and its international human rights background - a summary of the professional insights and questions to be answered from the 12 May event.…
0
22
As part of the Mental Health Program launched in 2015, Croatian NGO Igra has launched the Youtube Channel that talks about Mental Health. The purpose of this channel is to raise public awareness and talk about mental health issues. This is…
0
3
Every child deserves an education. But right now, well over 3 million refugee children aren’t just away from their homes, they’re out of school. The impact of this is devastating, with children often forced to work and, in some cases, having to…
0
3
Out of misconception or out of outright clichés, the general public view about Gypsies, or Rroma, is usually prejudiced from the onset: Travelers, beggars, thieves, dirty, living in squalor with numerous children, but often also beautiful, free,…
yes
0
8219
What is Barnahus? Barnahus (which literally means Children’s House) is a child-friendly, interdisciplinary and multi-agency centre for child victims and witnesses where children could be interviewed and medically examined for forensic purposes,…
0
53
This European Antibullying Network video aims to present teens the consequences of bullying through one of their favorite ways of communication: GIFs.
yes
0
1976
This program is addressed to all adolescents who in one form or another have encountered bullying in their school life. The program is organized on several modules: Module 1. Let's get to know each other. Me and the others - gives you the…
0
62
The Bulgarian Council for Refugees and Migrants has published the first academic bulletin "Refugees - Today and Tomorrow". The initiative, supported by the UN Agency for Refugees in Bulgaria, aims to contribute to the exchange of information among…
0
56
Trust is one of the most important base of all of our relationships with others however some people can take advantage of us. Online grooming is the process of exploiting insecurities and trust of children over the internet. These predators usually…
no
0
10
UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell’s statement on situation of children in Sudan “Five days of intense hostilities in Sudan, and four failed ceasefires, have already taken a devastating toll on the country’s children. If the violence does…
0
9
The COVID pandemic, coupled with social unrest, is generating anxiety amongst youth. Anxiety is a mechanism we use to protect ourselves, but it can become psychiatric anxiety when it negatively affects the educational and social activity…
0
13
International organization and network of organizations who work with street involved children all around the world - Consortium for Street Children, has published this child friendly material "How Governments Can Keep Their Promises to Children in…
yes
0
2031
In this presentation, school teachers can find answers to the following questions: Defining the bullying phenomenon What is bullying behavior? How we recognize bullying behavior? How do we differentiate bullying behavior from other…
0
2340
What is Restorative Justice (RJ)? Restorative justice recognises that when a crime is committed, it entails more than the offender breaking a law - harm has been inflicted on victims. As the name implies, restorative justice believes that a just…
0
315
This report presents new research findings from the NSPCC on child maltreatment in the United Kingdom, looking specifically at the prevalence and impact of severe maltreatment. The research found that the rates of child maltreatment reported by…