There’s Something Terribly Wrong with “Cute Cat” Videos on YouTube

In 2017, I published an article where I highlighted an entire industry of YouTube videos directed at children that contained violent, sexual, or all-out traumatizing content. People on platforms such as 4Chan and Reddit dubbed this phenomenon “Elsagate” because these videos often used popular characters such as Frozen‘s Elsa to lure children in.

Online outrage gained such traction that YouTube finally took action and removed the offending videos … for a while. And YouTube seems to have done so very reluctantly. Indeed, they seemed very comfortable with hosting horrific content (some of which appeared to be made by and for pedophiles) on their platform. On the other hand, they also seem very comfortable with censoring channels that committed the sin of expressing opinions that went against the mainstream narrative.

Well, in 2025, toxic videos aimed at children crept back on YouTube, and I’m sure they’re very aware of it. And these videos are worse and more rampant than ever,  mainly due to the coming of a new technology: AI. Indeed, we’re in the midst of Elsagate 2.0, where thousands of AI-generated videos containing horrific content are pushed to children at an unprecedented rate. And I’m not talking about niche, obscure channels. They’re massive channels, with millions of subscribers and billions of views.

These channels are conceived specifically for toddlers whose parents give them mobile devices to keep them busy and entertained. The algorithm ensures that these toddlers keep clicking on equally terrible videos.

I’ve experienced it firsthand. I simply searched for “cute cats” on YouTube—an innocuous search term used by millions of children—and was flooded with hundreds of bizarre, AI-generated videos of cats. And most of these videos contained imagery that appears to be custom-made to traumatize children: Gore, death, horror, and insidious family-related scenarios.

Although I’m a grown man who’s been exposed to all kinds of terrible content, these videos still managed to make me dizzy, uneasy, and somewhat nauseous. Imagine the effect these videos have on innocent children.

These videos are getting pumped out frantically because AI entirely generates them (while being prompted by sick people behind the scenes). Then, the YouTube algorithm pushes this new garbage onto unsuspecting children.

Why does this phenomenon even exist? Well, of course, money. YouTube and channel creators are generating millions in ad revenues by preying on children. But it goes deeper than money. They could generate as much money by creating harmless AI cat videos.

As observed in my 2017, there appears to be a darker agenda behind this phenomenon: They are genuinely attempting to traumatize children with gore and violence while grooming them to bizarre sexual scenarios.

Here’s a look at what YouTube is pushing on children.

Sickening Gore and Violence

While there are numerous channels pumping AI cat stuff, they’re all remarkably similar. The stories, the styles, and the “what the hell is wrong with them” factor are all the same. The following video, poetically titled Kitten has tummy trouble contains cockroaches, is a typical example of the nightmarish scenarios they’re pushing on children.

This video is aimed at and watched by toddlers and children. It does a great job of tapping into their deepest fears and anxieties while providing them pure nightmare fuel.

Then, YouTube suggests to these children an endless stream of variations of this horrific scenario.

If the screenshots above made you feel uneasy or even a bit nauseous, it’s probably due to the triggering of trypophobia.

Trypophobia is a term used to describe an aversion or fear of closely packed holes or bumps. It’s not a formally recognized mental disorder, but many people experience strong emotional and physical reactions when encountering stimuli like sponges, honeycombs, or even certain patterns in nature that resemble these clusters of holes.

Trypophobia is a natural aversion to patterns that resemble disease and infections. These AI videos appear to purposely trigger this response in children to generate a strong, physical reaction.

Another type of scenario involves, for some reason, pregnant cats.

Here’s another pregnant cat.

The makers of these videos do not shy away from depicting the all-out violent death of kittens.

Children watching these videos identify with the kittens as they experience the terrible scenarios pictured above. But it’s not merely about violence. The makers of these videos are apparently looking to cause psychological trauma through bizarre stories involving cat families.

Family Horror

We all know that toddlers and young children revolve around mommy and daddy. Indeed, their entire universe is based on their parents’ unconditional love and care. The good people at YouTube are pushing videos in which parents betray that trust.

I’m not a child psychologist, but I don’t think that toddlers watching parents murdering babies is beneficial for their development. As a matter of fact, this type of garbage might partly explain why younger generations grow up increasingly anxious and depressed.

For some reason, they’re also very into the theme of scary, abusive fathers.

Here’s another beauty.

Another trope exploited by these AI creators is, for some reason, infidelity. There are hundreds of videos of cats cheating on each other.

There are hundreds of variations of these stories, and it’s very strange. While these videos appear to be randomly generated, they also appear to be specifically created to expose young children to toxic concepts such as families breaking down.

While the above videos focused on cats, the people behind these creations still try to lure children using popular characters.

Popular Characters to Lure Children

The original Elsagate controversy was based on videos using characters such as Elsa from Frozen to attract viewers. The same phenomenon is happening now, but it’s worse. Due to the development of AI, it is now possible to create CGI videos in the same style as popular movies. Once young viewers are lured in, they’re exposed to nightmare fodder.

For instance, children know and love Minions. So, when they see Minions videos on YouTube, they click on them. Then, they see stuff like this.

Here’s another screenshot from the same video.

The next video starts with a normal Sonic the Hedgehog as seen in movies. Then it turns into this.

The screenshots in this article were taken after a very basic search and a few minutes of (horrible) viewing. I could have posted hundreds of more insane scenarios, as these videos are being produced daily. This problem is rampant.

In Conclusion

In this article, we’ve seen body horror, operations gone wrong, insects flying out of gaping stomach holes, pregnant cats being stabbed, baby kittens being shot dead, parents murdering and burying their own child, and much more. Despite these videos taking over YouTube and poisoning the minds of millions of children, nothing is being done.

Meanwhile, YouTube uses the most advanced algorithms on Earth to analyze what people say and censor ideas they don’t like. How come these advanced algorithms cannot spot a video of a Minion crashing through an infant’s bloody stomach? Too subtle? Are they too busy censoring videos of doctors suggesting people take vitamin D?

While some believe that these cat videos are merely a money-making scheme, it goes deeper than that. They are custom-made to traumatize children, to shock them out of their state of innocence and fill them with dark thoughts. These people want to create a generation that is thoroughly anxious, traumatized, and demoralized.

If you’re a parent, do not trust these platforms; they’re not on our side.

Source: https://vigilantcitizen.com/vigilantreport/theres-something-terribly-wrong-with-cute-cat-videos-on-youtube/