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I think that's over thinking it a bit, youtube algos are easy to manipulate and a single thread on 4chan can create a fair bit of weird media, for the explicit

by borne0 8y ago

I think that's over thinking it a bit, youtube algos are easy to manipulate and a single thread on 4chan can create a fair bit of weird media, for the explicit intent of creating weird media.

mayniac 8y ago
I do prefer the 4chan theory, since it satisfies Occam's Razor. That said, the frequency of new videos from multiple channels dedicated to nothing but these videos, as well as the monetisation, makes it unlikely. Also considering the number of subscribers the subreddit has I'm sure that if there were any new 4chan threads suggesting people make those videos it would've been spotted. It's honestly the sheer number of videos that is the shocking part of the mystery. It's not just a few dozen videos from different animators, it's hundreds of videos from dozens of channels pumping this stuff out. Unfortunately I find it unlikely that we'll ever find out the cause.
- andrepd 8y ago
  The cause is algorithms run amok. Find popular keywords: Elsa, Frozen, Fidget Spinner, Sexual. Have an AI mix these in whatever weird way and churn out nightmare fuel to kids, in exchange for big fat ad revenue. Kids, more easily manipulated, and with a whole life as consumers ahead of them, are valuable targets...
- gowld 8y ago
  Computers are very good at taking something they've done once, and doing is a billion times.
tzahola 8y ago
Excuse me, but AFAIK it was 4chan who started calling out these videos in the first place.
- username223 8y ago
  Both can be true at the same time. 4chan is basically about pointing and laughing at things on the internet, right? So it doesn't matter much whether they're gaming YT's algorithm to show disturbing things to kids, or pointing to other people doing it. (Also, I find it weird to give a kindergartener unsupervised access to any internet device. They don't understand the threats they're confronting.)
  - mcphage 8y ago
    > Also, I find it weird to give a kindergartener unsupervised access to any internet device. They don't understand the threats they're confronting. That was the selling point of Youtube Kids—it wasn't supposed to be unsupervised access to the internet. It was supposed to be curated.
    - username223 8y ago
      Letting a multi-billion-dollar surveillance company show more or less whatever it wants to very young children seems like a bad idea. We tried a very primitive version of this model a couple decades ago, with Saturday morning cartoons interspersed with ads selling sugary cereal, and the results were not great.

by borne0 8y ago

I think that's over thinking it a bit, youtube algos are easy to manipulate and a single thread on 4chan can create a fair bit of weird media, for the explicit intent of creating weird media.

mayniac 8y ago

I do prefer the 4chan theory, since it satisfies Occam's Razor. That said, the frequency of new videos from multiple channels dedicated to nothing but these videos, as well as the monetisation, makes it unlikely. Also considering the number of subscribers the subreddit has I'm sure that if there were any new 4chan threads suggesting people make those videos it would've been spotted. It's honestly the sheer number of videos that is the shocking part of the mystery. It's not just a few dozen videos from different animators, it's hundreds of videos from dozens of channels pumping this stuff out. Unfortunately I find it unlikely that we'll ever find out the cause.

andrepd 8y ago
The cause is algorithms run amok. Find popular keywords: Elsa, Frozen, Fidget Spinner, Sexual. Have an AI mix these in whatever weird way and churn out nightmare fuel to kids, in exchange for big fat ad revenue. Kids, more easily manipulated, and with a whole life as consumers ahead of them, are valuable targets...
gowld 8y ago
Computers are very good at taking something they've done once, and doing is a billion times.

tzahola 8y ago

Excuse me, but AFAIK it was 4chan who started calling out these videos in the first place.

username223 8y ago
Both can be true at the same time. 4chan is basically about pointing and laughing at things on the internet, right? So it doesn't matter much whether they're gaming YT's algorithm to show disturbing things to kids, or pointing to other people doing it. (Also, I find it weird to give a kindergartener unsupervised access to any internet device. They don't understand the threats they're confronting.)
- mcphage 8y ago
  > Also, I find it weird to give a kindergartener unsupervised access to any internet device. They don't understand the threats they're confronting. That was the selling point of Youtube Kids—it wasn't supposed to be unsupervised access to the internet. It was supposed to be curated.
  - username223 8y ago
    Letting a multi-billion-dollar surveillance company show more or less whatever it wants to very young children seems like a bad idea. We tried a very primitive version of this model a couple decades ago, with Saturday morning cartoons interspersed with ads selling sugary cereal, and the results were not great.