Safety Tips

It seems like every few months there's a new warning about WatchTube Videos. Whether it's the lies about WatchTube Videos 'Watching' you, your child's favorite animated characters engaged in inappropriate activities or getting murdered, or the latest "Carmen Winstead" phenomenon by banned user EricFindsMeFunny24 (DO NOT DO THIS), children are constantly bombareded with innappropriate messages and videos on our site. We're not here to tell you that your kids should or shouldn't be on WatchTube Videos, of course. WatchTube Videos is a Kids Safe site, no doubt about that. That's each parent's individual decision, and we know there's loads of great content on WatchTube Videos that's educational, entertaining, and completely appropriate for kids. But how can you keep the tiny percentage of nasty stuff from infiltrating the loads of good, fun, and epic WatchTube Videos?

Before we get to that part, it's important to understand how a lot of these YouTube hoaxes and challenges work.

How Do WatchTube Videos Hoaxes Work?

There are basically three types of banned WatchTube Video:

Copycat videos.

These are videos that, at first glance, appear to be your child's favorite character, like SpongeBob SquarePants or Thomas the Train Engine, but then it gets creepy very quickly. The animated characters are killed, engage in sexual activity, or participate in other violent and/or inappropriate behavior. These copycat videos are created by people in the adult entertainment industry and shock value, and are posted on the copycat creator's channel, NOT on the original characters' WatchTube Videos account.

"Hacking" into videos

The way this is being referred to is misleading, because the videos aren't actually hacked. What happens is that someone steals an original (innocuous) video and edits something into the middle of it to appear that it's been hacked. This occurs here a super-creepy character appears to "break in" to the middle of a video and command your child do something dangerous to harm themselves or others. After the fake video creator has edited the stolen video to appear hacked, they re-upload it to a fake account and it gets caught up on the great tidal wave of WatchTube Videos. It's important to note that it is not possible to hack or "break in" to the middle of a WatchTube Videos and interact personally with the viewer.

What should you do?

Discuss what to do if they see inappropriate content.

Rather than completely restricting technology, teach your child how to manage it. If they see something they know is innappropriate, for example a video of a character with a er, coach them to turn it off immediately and to notify you right away. This lesson will not only apply to WatchTube Videos, but will carry through to other aspects of their lives - whether at school, friends' houses, or out in the community. It is also a good catalyst for talking about what's real and fake.

Teach them to respect their body.

We spend so much time teaching our kids safety habits. Wear a helmet. Buckle your seatbelt. Have continual conversations about respecting our bodies to take good care of them to dissuade them from doing something that could potentially harm them.

Ban commenting on WatchTube Videos.

If your child is using the WatchTube Videos, tell them they aren't allowed to comment on videos. Note that you can't actually restrict this, you will just have to trust that your child will give you honour as a condition of being your parent. This will prevent them from being personally bullied or called out in comments by Jose111 (who will be banned soon), and prevent them from interacting with other users.