{"id":26306,"date":"2022-04-06T20:43:56","date_gmt":"2022-04-06T20:43:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.esinsolito.com\/huggy-wuggy-police-warning-prompts-misleading-rumors-about-tiktok-and-youtube-kids\/"},"modified":"2022-04-06T20:43:56","modified_gmt":"2022-04-06T20:43:56","slug":"huggy-wuggy-police-warning-prompts-misleading-rumors-about-tiktok-and-youtube-kids","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.esinsolito.com\/huggy-wuggy-police-warning-prompts-misleading-rumors-about-tiktok-and-youtube-kids\/","title":{"rendered":"Huggy Wuggy Police Warning Prompts Misleading Rumors About TikTok and YouTube Kids"},"content":{"rendered":"
On April 1, 2022, the English website Dorset.live published<\/a> the following headline about \u201cvery distressing\u201d videos that were said to have been floating around on TikTok<\/a>, YouTube<\/a>, and YouTube Kids<\/a>: \u201cDorset Police warning about Huggy Wuggy bear that is singing songs about killing.\u201d It referred to Huggy Wuggy<\/a>, a furry, blue, tall, and sharp-toothed character in a 2021 survival horror video game titled, \u201cPoppy Playtime.\u201d It was developed by MOB Games and is rated \u201c12+\u201d on iOS and \u201cTeen\u201d on Android, meaning that it was deemed to be suitable for teenagers.<\/p>\n There are a lot of moving parts to this story. First, it is true that there have been a limited number of reports<\/a> from some parents in the U.K. who said that their children had been reciting phrases from unofficial online videos that featured Huggy Wuggy. One story told of a child who tried to jump out of a window after watching the videos, while another said that children at a playground had recreated a game based on the clips.<\/p>\n However, following our research, we concluded that the police warning about Huggy Wuggy led to some misinformation and confusion. For example, Huggy Wuggy does not sing songs in \u201cPoppy Playtime,\u201d nor did MOB Games create official videos of the character singing. One of the main songs that was referenced by blog articles was created by a fan of the game. The video\u2019s creator told us that the upload settings for the clip would not have allowed it to appear on YouTube Kids.<\/p>\n We found no evidence that showed the videos in question had been available on the TikTok for Younger Users experience<\/a> or on YouTube Kids. This does not mean they never appeared on the platforms. It simply means there\u2019s no direct record that would confirm it happened.<\/p>\n While we did locate some tutorials on YouTube Kids that showed how to draw the Huggy Wuggy character, we did not see any of the \u201cvery distressing\u201d videos mentioned by the lone police report. It\u2019s entirely possible that some parents saw the Huggy Wuggy drawing tutorials on YouTube Kids and wrongly believed, without evidence, that that meant the \u201cvery distressing\u201d videos in question were also available on the platform. (YouTube Kids is designed for children under the age of 12. Meanwhile, TikTok has a \u201cTeen\u201d setting as well as a \u201cTikTok for Younger Users experience\u201d for children under age 13.)<\/p>\n A spokesperson for TikTok told us by email there\u2019s no record that the videos in question had appeared on the TikTok for Younger Users experience. Further, a spokesperson for YouTube told Sky News<\/a>, \u201cThese videos are not available on YouTube Kids.\u201d<\/p>\n On top of all of this, some of the American blog articles that reported on the police warning from the U.K. appeared to rush out their stories without first looking for the facts. These articles looked to have inflated the issue into a larger and more scary-sounding controversy, perhaps simply to bring in clicks from frightened parents.<\/p>\n On March 22, 2022, a mother posted to Facebook<\/a> that she received an email from her child\u2019s school that warned about Huggy Wuggy. The post and other misleading accounts falsely claimed that Huggy Wuggy \u201csings worrying songs about hugging and killing.\u201d To be clear, Huggy Wuggy does not sing songs in \u201cPoppy Playtime,\u201d nor has MOB Games created any official videos that show the character singing songs.<\/p>\nHow This All Started<\/h4>\n