Kidbait YouTubers Are Making Millions While Children Are Being Manipulated
Kids are being pimped out for views on YouTube.
In an ideal world, I’d be writing about all the reasons things are going to be fine, how the sun will come out tomorrow, how it’s going to be all music and rainbows from here on in.
It’s not happening.
YouTube Kids is not only bizarre, it’s often chaotic, pointless, and disorienting. There’s minimal talking and obnoxious sound effects, smiles, boops, bops, and blings. There’s usually no story or actors.
Researching this article was absolute hell. I spent an inordinate amount of time grimacing and contorting my face in pain.
The massive avalanche of annoying kids content
The incentives for kid creators are huge: 9-year-old Ryan Kaji made $29.5M in 2020 and was the highest-paid YouTuber.
He made his money by opening presents and playing with toys. No stories. Just a kid running around in his backyard. He isn’t talented at playing with toys; not should he be. He bumbles along with them like any other child.
It has become common for parents to see their children watching other kids play with toys. Meanwhile, their own toys sit on the ground next to them, unattended to. It’s the potential inspiration for another Toy Story sequel.
Unsurprisingly, armies of parents are willing to pimp their kids out for the camera, dressing their 3-year-olds in makeup, having them perform and dance for new YouTube channels.
There are beauty pageant videos, fake kissing booths, hips thrusting, everything. Thousands of channels have been banned.
Go deep enough down this rabbit hole and you’ll get nauseous. It gets straight-up weird.
Advertising’s dirty little secret is that the younger the audience, the more valuable the impressions. Technically speaking, advertisers aren’t allowed to target children with ads. They still work around that rule and pay top dollar-per-click…
