Toy Freaks was a controversial

Elsagate Elsagate is a neologism referring to the controversy surrounding videos on YouTube and YouTube Kids that are categorized as "child-friendly", but which contain themes that are inappropriate for children. Most videos under this classification ar ...

YouTube YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second mo ...

channel run by Gregory Chism, a single father of two living in Granite City,

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Rockf ...

. The channel was known for its videos featuring Chism and his two daughters in a variety of disturbing or inhumane situations. It was created in 2012 and terminated by YouTube in November 2017. The channel has been described as one of the first channels brought to light with the

phenomenon.

Gregory Chism

In an interview in January 2015, Chism described himself as a single father of two girls, Annabelle (age 4) and Victoria (age 6).

Controversy and termination

In November 2017, the Toy Freaks channel was highlighted by James Bridle in a ''

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'' article, in which he wrote that the channel "...specialises in gross-out situations, as well as activities which many, many viewers feel border on abuse and exploitation, if not cross the line entirely, including videos of the children vomiting and in pain." When the channel was terminated by YouTube later that month, it had over 8.5 million subscribers, and was one of the 100 most-viewed channels on YouTube. YouTube removed the channel for violating its child endangerment policy, which they had recently revised in response to media coverage of supposedly child-friendly videos containing disturbing content on YouTube.

References

{{Reflist

External links

Archived copy of Toy Freaks channel homepage
YouTube channels launched in 2012 English-language YouTube channels Scandals in Illinois 2017 scandals Entertainment scandals People from Granite City, Illinois American male comedians 2017 disestablishments in Illinois American YouTubers Child abuse Child abuse in the United States Child abuse incidents and cases Online obscenity controversies YouTube channels closed in 2017 YouTube controversies Incidents of violence against girls

Gregory Chism

Controversy and termination

See also

References

External links