Somewhere in an animated New York, a servant slides and falls into a sewer. As a wave of green radioactive slime envelope, his body begins to transform – the mutilating limbs, rows of bloody hooks emerging – its globular and green shape, sliding threatening through the screen.
“Beware of Minion in the Night, an endless shadow shadow,” sings a consonance narrator of the AI, while the monstrous creature, now hidden in a pool, sneaks behind a screaming child before crunching them, mercilessly, between his teeth.
By clicking on the video ownerHowever, this is another story. “Welcome to Go Cat – a fun and exciting YouTube channel for children!” The description of the chain announces 24,500 subscribers and more than 7 million viewers. “Each episode is filled with imagination, colorful animation and a surprising story of transformation that awaits to unfold. Whether it is a funny accident or a scary problem, each video brings a new story of transformation for children!”
The contents allegedly adapted to the children of Go Cat is visceral, surreal – by hand most eyes on the horror of the body. His themes feel strangely recalling what, in 2017, became known as Elsagatewhere hundreds of thousands of videos have emerged on YouTube representing characters for children like Elsa de FrozenSpider-Man and Peppa Pig involved in perilous, sexual and abusive situations. By manipulating the platform algorithms, these videos were able to appear on the dedicated children's application of YouTube – repercussions on children's curiosities to grow thousands of clicks for money. In his attempts to eradicate the problem, YouTube has removed advertisements Over 2 million videosDeleted more than 150,000 and terminated 270 accounts. Although subsequent surveys by Wired have revealed that similar channels – some containing sexual and scatological representations of Minecraft avatars—Octuated to appear on the page of the subject of YouTube, the scope of Elsagate had been significantly repressed.
Then came AI. The possibility of entering (and bypassing) generative IA prompts, twinned with a Tutorial influx On how to monetize the content of children means that the creation of these bizarre and macabre videos has become not only easy but lucrative. Go Cat is only one of the many who appeared when cable looked as harmless as “Minions”, “Thomas the Tank Engine” and “Cute Cats”. Many imply Elsagate staples such as pregnant versions, dressed in Elsa and Anna lingerie, but the servants are another big striker, just like animated cats and kittens.
In response to the request for wired comments, YouTube says that he “ended two channels reported to violate our conditions of use” and suspends the monetization of three other channels.
“A number of videos have also been deleted for violating our children's safety policy,” said a YouTube spokesperson. “As always, all the content downloaded on YouTube is subject to our community guidelines and our quality principles for children – without what it is generated.”
When asked what policies are in place to prevent prohibited users from simply opening a new channel, YouTube said that it would be contrary to its service conditions and that these policies were rigorously applied “using a combination of people and technology”.
