Why YouTube's Disturbing Peppa Pig Spoofs Are a Reminder on Screen Time Safety

If you’re a parent of a preschooler, “Peppa Pig” is likely a household name. With hundreds of episodes available on YouTube, your little one can watch the adorable clips whenever he pleases. But you may want to check on your kid the next time he’s bent over the iPad.

Explicit Peppa Pig spoofs are running rampant online, exposing kids to violent and disturbing scenes of their favorite pigs. Kids searching for a Peppa Pig video are stumbling upon graphic content, where Peppa and friends are seen hurting themselves or others.

Some of the disturbing scenes include arson, gun violence and murder.

In September, YouTube rolled out a bundle of new tools for parents to use for a safer viewing expereince on the YouTube Kids app, but even the media company admitted it wasn’t full-proof.

“We work hard to make videos in the app family friendly, but no system is perfect. It’s always possible that a parent may find something they don’t want their child to watch in the “Younger” or “Older” experiences. If this happens, we ask that parents block and flag the video for review by our team,” YouTube advises.

The Peppa Pig parodies are pretty alarming, considering the amount of young kids who enjoy a daily dose of screen time. Although the American Academy of Pediatrics advises parents to avoid screen time for babies under 18 months old and limit the amount to a maximum of 1 hour for kids ages 2 to 5, kids as young as one are using tablets for more than 20 minutes a day, according to a 2015 study.

The Internet can be a scary place. Before you give your kids free reign of the family tablet, make sure you are monitoring what they watch. And check in with what pediatricians have to say for expert-recommended screen time tips.

Please note: The Bump and the materials and information it contains are not intended to, and do not constitute, medical or other health advice or diagnosis and should not be used as such. You should always consult with a qualified physician or health professional about your specific circumstances.