Elsagate refers to a type of incident where malicious content creators are left unrestrained to publish illicit content that is targeted towards minors. Residing among video platforms such as YouTube and TikTok, millions of minors have been left affected by the negligence of the companies that maintain them.

Background edit

Elsagate content is associated with mature content that is covered by a thin façade of what audiences would initially expect to be child-friendly content. The content itself takes advantage of a multitude of mediums, such as flash-style animation, stop-motion or claymation, live action footage, or most recently, AI generation. Most videos uploaded would take advantage of methods to take advantage of the algorithm with junk keywords and buzzwords in the titles like "education" or "nursery rhymes", and the attention of children or unaware parents with bright thumbnails and recognizable characters.

Version 1 - (2016-2017) edit

The initial introduction of Elsagate content started at an unknown date, however its presence was mostly discovered by outlets such as The Guardian in 2016,[1] where the content was rather tame with no dialogue, only taking advantage of characters owned by large companies that would be popular among children, such as Spider-Man or Elsa. The following year, the content eventually became far more questionable, such as sexual behaviors and scatological humor.[2][3]

By early 2017, the amount of channels publishing this content skyrocketed, and reports on the content were matching similar amounts of proliferation. Publications such as the BBC,[4] CTV News,[5] and Yahoo! Lifestyle[6] were among many covering this, and additionally the community 'r/ElsaGate' on Reddit formed, focusing on documenting the excessive publishing of this content.

Google's response edit

Initial response from Google's moderation teams were limited, with only a few videos demonetized or taken down. When users on the platform were covering the incident, rather than the moderators taking down offending channels, YouTubers faced punishment for reporting instead.[7] Only after facing mass coverage from major news outlets on the mature depictions of child-favorite characters,[8] potential investigations from the United State's Federal Bureau of Investigation,[9] and threats from advertisers pulling funding, did YouTube put forth measures to effectively stop the spread of this content.[10]

Features have included the following:

  • Disabling comments on videos marked 'for kids'
  • Disabling "targeted" advertising on marked videos
  • Loss of monetization for some marked videos

Version 2 - 'Aphmaugate' (2020 - Present) edit

In the start of the 2020s, the content resurfaced in the feeds of users, especially as the height of "lockdown" encouraged an increase in screen time among all demographics. Compared to the previous iteration, the content would instead infringe on smaller indie intellectual properties and game franchises.[11][12] The content was considerably more violent and mature in nature, such as murder, abuse, and drugs.[12]

The indie mascot horror scene has particularly faced the theft of their IP for the purposes of content farming for kids, even causing the creator of Sprunki, an indie version of Incredibox, to quit their project partially due to the abuse of their IP inside content farms:[13][14][15]

I have a secret that I have been keeping for a while. But after getting hacked, I noticed it's a bit too late. But lemme say this anyway

Sprunki 2 has already been cancelled this whole time.

The situation was already bad enough, such as messed up content farms, overpopularity, and what the idiots called "sprunki ripoff". I just haven't told you yet because of the STUPIDEST reason so lemme just ruin the surprise

It's because of a planned APRIL FOOLS sprunki 2.

It was supposed to be a whole ass meme game. But at some point in game, you get a video about the cancellation of sprunki. I haven't tell you that I cancelled it yet because it would ruin the fun (kinda stupid i know)

At this point, I'm gonna cancel the sprunki update. I'll release the cancelled version when I want to.

This is a good thing for me because I can finally focus on something I actually enjoy making.

I'll make a video about this later

But for now, spread the words

  1. sprunkiisdead

This period had also shown content created explicitly for mature audiences being automatically marked for kids against the wishes of the creator,[16][17] which harms the monetization of their content[18][19] and contributes to the harm of children.[20]

Version 3 - 'AIgate' (2023 - Present) edit

An offshoot of the previous version emerged with the growth of generative AI, and compared to the speed of human output, AI generated videos proliferated excessively on video platforms. Initially this content was a series of poorly stitched-together static images, however as access to AI-powered video generators increased and the costs to use these additionally became cheaper, consumers on several video platforms were faced with a flood of AI generated videos[21][22] that exhibited disturbing imagery and elements suitable only for mature audiences, while maintaining the façade of looking like it is content for kids.[23]

A highlight of these channels are centered around the tag "Cute Cat", which has notably been discussed by creators[24][25][26] and outlets[23][27] alike. The AI generated cat videos show disturbing imagery involving humanoid cats, often depicted as a child, either committing or facing disturbing acts like abuse, physical trauma, torture, and more.[28][29]

Some of these channels will label that the content is not intended for children, however, they neglect to leave these content warnings outside of the comment section.[29] Due to the mixture of paranoia from previous Elsagate-type incidents and a difficulty to control the kids app,[30][31] parents have lost trust in YouTube Kids,[32] meaning they are at risk of accidentally showing this traumatizing content to their own children.

Despite the excess in disturbing content, both YouTube and its parent company Google have neglected to stop the proliferation of this content on its platform.

Consumer response edit

The initial response from the public of the first version of the incident was strongly negative, with users agreeing to refuse to use YouTube Kids due to a lack of adequate parental controls for the content that would be shown to the user.[30][32][31] Version 3 has especially brought significant backlash due to the explicit nature of the videos being published and being shown to children using the platform.[24][25][26]

References edit

  1. Dredge, Stuart (29 Jun 2016). "YouTube's latest hit: neon superheroes, giant ducks and plenty of lycra". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 23 Nov 2017. Retrieved 8 Jun 2025.
  2. Popper, Ben (20 Feb 2017). "Adults dressed as superheroes is YouTube's new, strange, and massively popular genre". The Verge. Archived from the original on 13 Nov 2017. Retrieved 8 May 2025.
  3. Deal, Rachel (23 Feb 2017). "The Ballad Of Elsa And Spiderman". The Awl. Archived from the original on 1 Dec 2017. Retrieved 8 May 2025.
  4. Subedar, Anisa; Yates, Will (27 Mar 2017). "The disturbing YouTube videos that are tricking children". BBC. Archived from the original on 26 Jun 2019. Retrieved 8 May 2025.
  5. "Fake toons: Kids falling prey to adult parodies of popular children's shows". CTV News. 28 Mar 2017. Archived from the original on 27 Mar 2024. Retrieved 8 Jun 2025.
  6. Lee, Natasha (9 Jul 2017). "Disturbing videos masked as kid's cartoons on YouTube". Yahoo Lifestyle. Retrieved 8 Jun 2025.
  7. Yeung, Alysha (6 Oct 2024). "Aphmaugate: The Return of Elsagate". Medium. Retrieved 8 Jun 2025.
  8. Whigham, Nick (29 Nov 2017). "Parents warned to look out for disturbing 'Elsagate' videos". New York Post. Retrieved 6 Jun 2025.
  9. Warzel, Charlie (22 Nov 2017). "YouTube Has A Massive Child Exploitation Problem". BuzzFeed. Archived from the original on 22 Nov 2017. Retrieved 6 Jun 2025.
  10. Brandon, Russel (8 Dec 2017). "Inside Elsagate, the conspiracy-fueled war on creepy YouTube kids videos". The Verge. Archived from the original on 13 Apr 2018. Retrieved 8 Jun 2025.
  11. D'Anastasio, Cecilia (30 Mar 2021). "Blood, Poop, and Violence: YouTube Has a Creepy Minecraft Problem". Wired. Retrieved 8 Jun 2025.
  12. 12.0 12.1 Hajjaji, Danya (12 Apr 2022). "Violent YouTube Cartoons Exploit Children's Favorite Horror Characters". Newsweek. Retrieved 8 Jun 2025.
  13. Swanaenae (11 Mar 2025). "Elsagate Is Back, And It's Worse". YouTube. Retrieved 23 Jun 2025.
  14. NyankoBfLol. "Post from NyankoBfLol". YouTube. Retrieved 23 Jun 2025.
  15. NyankoBfLol (2 Dec 2024). "about sprunki... (and a few other situations related)". YouTube. Retrieved 23 Jun 2025.
  16. Amadeo, Ron (5 Jul 2022). "YouTube flags horror video as "for kids," won't let creator change rating". Ars Technica. Retrieved 8 Jun 2025.
  17. u/davidverner (5 Nov 2021). "Is this actually a thing, forcing videos to YouTube Kids because it's about a cartoon series?". Reddit. Retrieved 8 Jun 2025.
  18. nuckles87 (13 Jul 2023). "YouTube goes after Balena Productions' Sonic Animations, Marking Them "Made For Kids"". Sonic Stadium. Retrieved 8 Jun 2025.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  19. u/Muska327 (9 May 2022). "Looks like YouTube has it out for Sonic content now". Reddit. Retrieved 8 Jun 2025.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  20. Parker, Tom (9 Jan 2020). "YouTube COPPA changes result in videos with violence, gore, and strong language being labeled "made for kids"". Reclaim The Net. Retrieved 8 Jun 2025.
  21. Tang, Jiaru (19 Sep 2024). "Behind the AI slop flooding TikTok and Facebook". The Times AU. Retrieved 23 Jun 2025.
  22. Salvador, Francheska (10 Mar 2025). "Is your feed full of AI 'slop'? Trending low-quality AI videos in a nutshell". The Toronto Observer. Retrieved 23 Jun 2025.
  23. 23.0 23.1 Holliday, Laura (2 May 2025). "Dozens of YouTube Channels Are Showing AI-Generated Cartoon Gore and Fetish Content". WIRED. Retrieved 23 Jun 2025.
  24. 24.0 24.1 Raymundo 2112 (28 Feb 2025). "Elsagate 3.0 Is Worse Than we Thought". YouTube. Retrieved 23 Jun 2025.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  25. 25.0 25.1 Upper Echelon (6 May 2025). "ElsaGate is BACK - (In 2025)". YouTube. Retrieved 23 Jun 2025.
  26. 26.0 26.1 Timcast IRL (23 Apr 2025). "AI Brainrot SLOP Is TAKING OVER The Internet, ElsaGate 3 IS HERE". YouTube. Retrieved 23 Jun 2025.
  27. Sanctionite (24 May 2025). "Elsagate 2.0: AI-Generated Content Targets Kids on YouTube". Upper Echelon. Retrieved 23 Jun 2025.
  28. "AI-Generated Cartoon Gore: A Disturbing Trend on YouTube Like Elsagate". DigiAlps. Retrieved 23 Jun 2025.
  29. 29.0 29.1 BitterSnake (13 Jan 2025). "Cute Cat AI | The Next Elsa Gate | Content Warning: Gore, disturbing imagery". YouTube. Retrieved 23 Jun 2025.
  30. 30.0 30.1 That_Commission (1 Jun 2021). "Parental controls are a terrible way of monitoring what you kid does on the internet". Reddit. Retrieved 23 Jun 2025.
  31. 31.0 31.1 C., Michael (27 Sep 2020). "I want to allow ONLY specific YouTube Channel(s) on my child's browser or app". Google Support. Retrieved 23 Jun 2020.
  32. 32.0 32.1 Ok-Counter-7077 (2 Jul 2022). "Anyone else hate YouTube kids?". Reddit. Retrieved 23 Jun 2025.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)