Notes

Senate Hearing on Children's Safety.S

The dystopian South Korean horror series "Squid Game" has become Netflix's most watched television show however, it is fast becoming as controversial as it is popular.



The latest controversy to surface in relation to "Squid Game" which is rated TV-MA in United States, relates to the fascination it has generated among children. This includes warnings from an Australian school that children as young as 6 are creating games that were featured on the dark and gory hit show. In Australia similar warnings have been issued by teachers in Sydney and Western Australia.



In "Squid Game,"" characters compete for a cash prize by taking part in challenges that augment the classic Korean children's games, with the "losers" being killed at the end of each round. Further highlighting the show's twisted approach to child's play, the games are played out in highly stylized arenas such as an adult scale children's play area. These traditional children's play areas are often covered in blood and littered with corpses following every challenge. The show is certainly a craze within children's digital culture.



A variety of popular channels on YouTube Kids (designed specifically for viewers younger than 12) have capitalized on the "Squid Game" trend. This YouTube content includes How to Draw "Squid Game" character videos, as well as "Squid Game" gameplay videos that are themed to the Roblox, an online video game Roblox.



The Roblox game "Squid Game" which is a very popular theme, has become extremely popular. Many "Squid Game" Roblox videos have hundreds of thousands, or even millions of views.



On both the kids' and main version of YouTube, videos aimed at children showcase children (often children) playing these "Squid Game" inspired games in Roblox and Minecraft, with the "Red Light, Green Light" challenge becoming a wildly popular trend. This challenge is also a popular trend on TikTok and users are playing the game in a range of real-life settings and in videogames Roblox and Minecraft.



The "Red Light, Green Light" scene has become one of "Squid Game's" most popular moments: The gigantic animatronic doll that functions as a deadly motion sensor in this game has been heavily meme-ified. The doll is often featured in thumbnails on YouTube videos of "Squid Game" as well as other related content for children.
YUROCK.NET


These YouTube videos of children are quite harmless. But, they illustrate how "Squid Game" has gotten into digital content explicitly targeting children in the early years. However, the lines between child-oriented and adult-oriented content online were always blurred.



YouTube has been at the heart of numerous controversy about inappropriate content targeted at children. TikTok is also the subject of similar concerns about children's safety and inappropriate content being seen by children. TikTok lets children older than 13 years old full access to the app however, there are reports that indicate that children younger than 13 are using it. A U.S. Senate hearing is currently taking place on the safety of TikTok for children. Federal Trade Commission in 2019, sweeping changes were introduced to make the distinction between adult and children's content more clear on the platform. For instance, creators are now required to declare on YouTube that their content is for children and machine-learning is used to identify videos which clearly target children's audiences.



YouTube is still a very different platform from broadcast television. YouTube's content is extremely popular with children and often differs from television for children.



YouTube content for children that riffs on "Squid Game” characters and scenes continue a long-running trend of "mashups" content for children.



Similar to "Squid Game" content "mashups" videos incorporate popular themes, search terms, and characters - often featuring famous characters in thumbnail imagery or video titles.



The rising global panic about children's participation in "Squid Game" challenges is similar to the "Momo" phenomenon of 2018 and in 2019. In this case the image of a terrifying figure that became associated with the moniker "Momo" became viral on the internet (the photo was actually of a Japanese sculpture).



International news media covered "Momo," which claimed that the creature appeared in videos for children on YouTube in order to encourage youngsters to participate in dangerous games and challenges.



As is currently happening in relation to "Squid Game," official warnings were sent to parents about the "Momo Challenge," advising them to be vigilant. It soon became apparent that the "Momo Challenge" was most likely a viral hoax.



Momo represented parents' worst fears about the dangers that children's internet usage. Concerns about "Squid Game's" influence on children's lives have the same tenor This might not be a reaction to actual dangers, but a expression of our discontent with how easily adult-oriented media can seep into the internet, especially for young children.



The unruly tentacles of "Squid Game's" inter-generational appeal demonstrate how streaming media rewrites notions of "child-appropriate" content.



Adult fears concerning "Squid Game's" malign influence on children stem from earlier concerns about this "mashup" content, but also about children's interaction with the web more generally.



This article was republished by The Conversation under a Creative Commons licence. The original article is available here.



Jessica Balanzategui is a senior lecturer in screen studies and cinema at Swinburne University of Technology in Hawthorn, Victoria, Australia. She receives financial support from the Australian Children's Television Foundation.


My Website: https://www.yurock.net/