The Internet can be a legitimately dangerous place sometimes, especially for kids. YouTube in particular is notorious for leading people, including children, to strange videos that may include harmful content, conspiracy theories, or disturbing imagery. One video in particular has started to get mainstream attention, as it splices a clip of YouTuber Filthy Frank teaching people how to kill themselves by cutting their wrists with a fan-made cartoon featuring Splatoon characters.

The video has since been removed from YouTube, but the clip can still be seen by visiting the PediMom website, hosted by Dr. Free N. Hess. In the clip, footage of Splatoon characters is suddenly interrupted by Filthy Frank, who mimes cutting his wrist. "Remember, kids, sideways for attention, longways for results. End it," he says, before the video returns to the Splatoon-related content.

This is apparently the second time that Dr. Hess has become aware of this video and has worked to have it removed from YouTube. Seven months ago, the video was actually on YouTube Kids, which is supposed to be a safer version of the video hosting website. However, this latest version of the video was hosted on YouTube itself, with Hess finding evidence that people have been reporting it for nearly a year, only for it to remain featured on the site.

Since being discovered by Dr. Hess, the video has been removed from YouTube, as it violates the community guidelines. However, the fact that it took YouTube such a long time to remove the video has understandably upset some people whose kids may have viewed the video. While some may argue that it's up to the parents to monitor what their kids watch, the way this video was spliced together could have tricked parents into thinking that their children were just watching a harmless fan-made Splatoon cartoon.

Regardless, it's clear that more steps need to be taken to protect kids online, particularly in regards to YouTube and video hosting websites. Child exploitation is a serious issue for the platform, and has seen it lose major advertisers recently, including Disney, Nestle, and Epic Games. YouTube's plan to correct these issues are unclear at this time, as the site has largely relied on algorithms instead of living, breathing people to regulate its content, which may be more effective in the long run.

Source: WFLA