Children can be challenged by adults posing as other children on social media. Photo / Getty Images
Children can be challenged by adults posing as other children on social media. Photo / Getty Images
Thousands of children are unwittingly making niche fetish videos for paedophiles, which are flying under the radar when they are posted on YouTube.
Sexual predators pretending to be other kids ask the youngsters to film certain scenes under the guise of completing "dares", in the style of viral trends suchas the mannequin and ice bucket challenges.
Adults with foot and "crush fetishes" request videos of children's feet or them stepping on insects for the "bug challenge". Those with a predilection for macrophilia (love of giants) and microphilia (the fantasy of being shrunk) send children lists of questions relating to fantasies including "vore" (being eaten by a giant) and "buttcrush" (being sat on by a giant).
Predators who like seeing children getting hurt request videos of children throwing themselves on to lego pieces, the innocent sounding "lego challenge", which often ends with bleeding.
'WOULD YOU CRUSH ME?' "It goes on and on," David Farrier, a Kiwi filmmaker who uncovered the disturbing trend, told news.com.au. "Kids are being challenged to crush things with their feet, sexual challenges, there are Q&As ... Any adult could look at those and tell they're not innocent."
One girl, whose video appears in a playlist of exploitative "giantess" clips, is seen answering questions sent to her by a "Karolyn Gilbert."
She reads out: "If you would see a one-inch tall guy on the floor of your room and you don't like him, what would you do to him?"
A user named Jerry Rios posts beneath: "What if I was standing on your hand and you had me would you crush me? I would be scard of you [sic]. Would you kill me or be friends?"
Children could throw themselves on to lego pieces in the innocent sounding "lego challenge", which often ends with bleeding. Photo / Getty Images
The favourite videos on his channel include clips of women being punched and strangled and one called "Pink Satin Panties Massage".
Another of his favourites entitled "ASMR lipstick application and lip scrub (tapping, whispering, and lip smacks)" shows a very young girl applying lipstick and gloss and rubbing her lips.
ASMR (autonomous sensory meridian response) is a euphoric "tingling" experience often triggered by ambient acoustics like whispering and tapping. The comments compliment her and request "make-up roleplay" and longer videos.
'USE THE MATTRESS' Then there are trends like the "piggyback challenge", which appears to have started without malice, unlike the shrunken challenge, which was created specifically by an adult fetishist.
Unfortunately, the dare appears to be attracting adult commenters.
"Can I req that two boys are riding on the girl back," reads one.
"Can you do a video of you flexing your arm muscles? How old are you? When can you piggyback a guy your age?" says another post.
"Would be great if you guys could make a video where your brother picking you up in cradle style," reads another.
"Please can you do the tickle armpits tickle challenge," another adds.
"I'd like you'll do the horsey back on the boy in turn with your nice friend Charlie. She is nice and you too. The idea is funny and exciting. Thx a lot and use the mattress so all you two girls are really free to sit on the boy," writes a user called Isabel.
Predators follow in each other's path. A comment under one Lego challenge reads: "Can you do a stretching video?" Under a video of a "stretching challenge" is a comment suggesting children carry out the "squishy mud challenge" by playing in the dirt. That account has been deleted.
Innocent young YouTube users, who frequently interact with each other to make fun content, fulfil requests left in comment sections and sent to their inboxes in the hope of gaining more subscribers. They have no idea they are effectively making child pornography, with paedophiles creating playlists so others can easily locate their favourites.
'A PRETTY WILD PLACE' The horrifying network of YouTube paedophiles was brought to Farrier's attention by a member of the macrophilia community, which is usually a fetish explored between consenting adults. "He was really disgusted because he'd seen some kids being exploited on YouTube," said Farrier, who is best known for his documentary on one particular fetish, Tickled. "He'd contacted YouTube and they didn't do anything."
The video sharing network prohibits predatory content under its child endangerment policies and removes content featuring minors who are unintentionally acting provocatively, including children engaged in dare videos. When the content is removed, the children are sent messages reminding them to be cautious when handling requests or dares since not all may be appropriate.
YouTube took action in deleting the accounts reported by Farrier, in particular one called "Ally and Maddie", pretending to be two young girls who were fascinated by the subject of shrunken people. Farrier notes that many playlists and accounts have been removed, but there are more appearing all the time and they can be hard to spot.
"These videos are created on children's accounts," he said. "Viewed in isolation, they can seem harmless," he said. "Once you see them compiled into playlists of hundreds of kids doing the same thing, it's different.
"YouTube's got a tricky situation on its hands. There are a lot of requests and a lot of them are part of an innocent, vibrant community.
"You're almost encouraged to communicate with strangers. It's a pretty wild place. "The easiest way to solve it is to be aware it happens. Parents of kids on YouTube need to have straightforward conversations, where you're crossing the line is making videos strangers have requested."
A spokesman for Google, which owns YouTube, told news.com.au: "We take safety on YouTube very seriously and our Community Guidelines clearly state that inappropriate material is not allowed on our site. We remove violating videos when flagged by our users and disable the accounts of repeat offenders.
"YouTube has a zero-tolerance policy for sexual content involving minors. Uploading, commenting, or engaging in any type of activity that sexualises minors will immediately result in an account termination. We work closely with organisations such as charities, others in our industry and government bodies dedicated to protecting young people. YouTube has a variety of educational materials and tools such as safety mode which parents can turn on to stop age-restricted and inappropriate videos from coming up."
