YouTube Kids, the YouTube app aimed specifically at children, was caught suggesting videos on conspiracy theories about the moon landing, reptilians, and the Earth’s shape.
As reported by Business Insider’s James Cook, the app “is meant to filter out adult content,” however an investigation discovered that YouTube Kids was recommending videos claiming “that the world is flat, that the moon landing was faked, and that the planet is ruled by reptile-human hybrids.”
“Search for ‘UFO’ on YouTube Kids and you’ll mostly find videos of toys that are clearly fine for children to watch. But one of the top videos claimed to show a UFO shooting at a chemtrail, and we found several videos by prominent conspiracy theorist David Icke in the suggested videos,” Business Insider reported. “One suggested video was an hours-long lecture by Icke in which he claims that aliens built the pyramids, that the planet is run by reptile-human hybrids, that Freemasons engage in human sacrifice, that the assassination of President Kennedy was planned by the US government, and that humans would evolve in 2012.”
Conspiracy theory videos about the moon landing, magic gateways and portals, chemtrails, the “flat Earth” theory, Planet X, and aliens were also discovered, and after Business Insider reached out to YouTube, the videos were removed from the app.
“The YouTube Kids app is home to a wide variety of content that includes enriching and entertaining videos for families. This content is screened using human trained systems,” declared YouTube in a statement. “That being said, no system is perfect and sometimes we miss the mark. When we do, we take immediate action to block the videos or, as necessary, channels from appearing in the app. We will continue to work to improve the YouTube Kids app experience.”
In his report, Cook proclaimed, “This issue with the YouTube Kids app shows the problem with YouTube’s suggested videos algorithm. The suggested videos try to convince you to watch related content after your current video ends.”
“That’s fine when it’s adults watching the main YouTube site, but children on YouTube Kids can easily go from innocent content about the moon landing to Icke claiming lizard people rule the world,” he explained.
Charlie Nash is a reporter for Breitbart Tech. You can follow him on Twitter @MrNashington, or like his page at Facebook.