BBC Homepage
  • Skip to content
  • Accessibility Help
  • Your account
  • Notifications
  • Home
  • News
  • Sport
  • Weather
  • iPlayer
  • Sounds
  • Bitesize
  • CBBC
  • CBeebies
  • Food
  • More menu
More menu
Search BBC
  • Home
  • News
  • Sport
  • Weather
  • iPlayer
  • Sounds
  • Bitesize
  • CBBC
  • CBeebies
  • Food
Close menu
BBC News
Menu
  • Home
  • InDepth
  • Israel-Gaza war
  • War in Ukraine
  • Climate
  • UK
  • World
  • Business
  • Politics
  • Culture
More
  • Tech
  • Science
  • Health
  • Family & Education
  • In Pictures
  • Newsbeat
  • BBC Verify
  • Disability
  • BBC Trending

Despite rumours, there's no evidence of a paedophile ring on YouTube

  • Published
    6 February 2017
Share page
About sharing
YouTuber Reallygraceful is one of the amateur investigators flagging up sexually explicit comments on YouTubeImage source, YouTube/Reallygraceful
Image caption,

YouTuber Reallygraceful is one of the amateur investigators flagging up sexually explicit comments on YouTube

Mike Wendling
BBC Trending

The allegations are shocking - a paedophile ring openly operating on YouTube. But the reality, as BBC Trending found, is much more complicated.

The rumours first started to surface a few weeks ago on Reddit and other message boards. Several users claimed to have found evidence of a group of paedophiles exchanging explicit material via YouTube.

It wasn't long before the claims reached the radar of several video bloggers. One, who goes by the name Reallygraceful, was visibly upset in a post she made on the subject.

Online rumours

"A paedophile ring exists on YouTube," she says. "And instead of everybody sitting on their keyboards and doing nothing… let's actually do something about it."

Reallygraceful has about 30,000 followers on her channel, and other YouTube personalities, some with much larger followings, joined in the hunt.

The allegations centred on a number of videos whose titles began "Webcam video from…", usually followed by a date.

The videos, according to several who've seen them, do show young children - but they are not sexual in nature. The children are often emulating their favourite YouTubers, dancing, miming makeup tutorials, or doing nothing much at all.

What has alarmed users are the comments beneath the videos, which are often very explicit.

The videos are usually self-shot and the pages usually contain very little associated description other than the title. Many were posted years ago.

line

More from BBC Trending

Visit the Trending Facebook page, external

line

So who posted them and why? And, as is being claimed by the vloggers, is there any evidence of a larger paedophile network behind them?

'Buzz word'

The first clue is the titles. "Webcam video from…" is a default title used by some webcam manufacturers and indicates that the person who uploaded them didn't bother to change the title or didn't really realise what they were doing.

One YouTuber who has looked into the claims and studied the videos says all indications point to the conclusion that the clips were unwittingly uploaded by the children themselves, who may or may not be aware of the explicit comments underneath.

The amateur investigator, who goes by the name Reign Bot, runs a YouTube channel devoted to debunking rumours and investigating the dark corners of the internet. She says some of the claims made by other YouTubers have been overblown and that the description of a "ring" is not strictly accurate.

"People weren't claiming there were some shady individuals, but an entire ring of people working together to take advantage of children," she says. "They were using 'paedophile ring' as more of a headline or buzz word in this case.

"Yes, such things do exist in the world, but this situation does not actually fit that criteria," she says.

line

Trending radio

Hear the full story on the BBC World Service

line

Hysteria

Reign Bot says that the comments posted were disgusting and should be deleted, but says that some amateur investigators, who posted on YouTube, Reddit and elsewhere, jumped to conclusions about vast networks which were unsupported by evidence.

"I can see where these people are coming from, but the hysteria generated by this whole thing did nothing for their cause, and also fuelled misinformation."

Although the videos recently garnered attention, the fact that particular search terms could easily bring up videos of children has been the subject of a variety of comments on the extreme free speech message board 4chan for several years.

one 4 chan user comment: search 'webcam video from'Image source, 4chan
4 chan message, "you used to be able to search for "webcam video" to find some "candy". Caption: One 4chan discussion makes references to child pornography and "webcam video" searches. Other posts on the site attacked those who were searching for such videosImage source, 4chan
Image caption,

One archived 4chan discussion makes references to child pornography and "webcam video" searches. Other posts on the site attacked those who were searching for such videos

'Pizzagate'

Reallygraceful and some of the other internet users hunting the video commentators were also promoters of the "Pizzagate" conspiracy theory - an invented allegation that a paedophile ring which included Democratic Party officials was centred on a Washington pizza restaurant.

Those discredited rumours began life as a politically motivated plot by Donald Trump supporters on 4chan, Reddit and other message boards. They culminated in an armed man travelling to the Washington DC pizza restaurant that was the target of the rumours and firing shots as diners fled.

The "pizzagate" rumours spiralled out of control as users of social networks projected hidden paedophile "signals" onto publicly available photos and other material.

Explicit comments

By contrast the YouTubers looking at these clips of children found actual examples of explicit messages, if no actual images of abuse.

In an email exchange with BBC Trending, Reallygraceful - Grace Elizabeth is her real name - says she saw a disturbing degree of intent by those viewing and commenting on the videos. In some cases, she says, the videos had been copied to different accounts and put on lists of similar clips.

"These videos were time-stamped in the description to reflect what points of the video a child's underwear was showing or their bare chests were exposed," she says.

Elizabeth also examined profiles of those commenting and aggregating the videos, which led to links to pro-paedophilia organisations. She walked back from comments in her original YouTube post linking the videos to "pizzagate," but linked the YouTube videos to other child sexual assault allegations.

"Many individuals are awakening to the reality that's been hiding in plain sight," she says.

Since the rumours began to get mainstream attention, many of the "webcam video from…" videos and comments have been taken down, presumably by YouTube itself, a move that Elizabeth called "fantastic," although she urged the network to do more.

line

Advice on child safety and the internet

How can I keep my kids safe online? - from BBC iWonder

Keeping children safe online - from Cbeebies

NSPCC Share Aware, external

UK Council for Child Internet Safety: information from gov.uk, external

line

YouTube did not directly answer questions about the videos, but in a statement said it has a zero-tolerance policy for sexual content involving minors, and that anything that sexualises children, including comments, will result in an account shutdown.

Monitor privacy

But like on other social networks, the amount of material available on YouTube is so vast that the Google subsidiary relies on users to flag illegal or inappropriate content.

"People have made this whole situation about banning content on YouTube, but I think the actual message here goes out to the individuals uploading the content," says Reign Bot, the internet investigator. "This should be a lesson to parents to monitor what their kids do online."

That sentiment was backed up by the UK National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, which has a website called Share Aware, external offering advice on children and use of the internet and social media.

"Parents can help by having regular conversations with their child about using privacy settings so that they decide who sees their posts and don't end up in a situation where they feel out of control," a spokesperson said.

"Sadly, there are some people who will mine the web for videos of young people and exploit it for their own devious uses."

Blog by Mike Wendling, external

You can follow BBC Trending on Twitter @BBCtrending, external, and find us on Facebook, external. All our stories are at bbc.com/trending.

Next story: Report of child's death in US raid in Yemen sparks anger

Nawar al-Awlaki

Yemenis have expressed anger on social media after an eight-year-old girl is reportedly killed in a US raid. READ MORE

You can follow BBC Trending on Twitter @BBCtrending, external, and find us on Facebook, external. All our stories are at bbc.com/trending.

More on this story

  • How photos of children have been exploited on Twitter

    • Published
      28 November 2016
    computer in shade

Top stories

  • Live. 

    Ukraine will not give up land, Zelensky says as Trump plans to meet Putin

    • 8146 viewing8.1k viewing
  • Israel rejects international criticism of Gaza City takeover plan

    • Published
      13 hours ago
  • 'People are angry': Behind the wave of asylum hotel protests

    • Published
      10 hours ago

More to explore

  • Prince Andrew book seals his fate for any return

    Prince Andrew, head and shoulders, April 2025
  • 'JD Vance sends warning to UK' and 'Scam by me'

    A composite image of the front pages of the i Paper and the Sun on 9 August 2025
  • 'People are angry': Behind the wave of asylum hotel protests

    Protesters at Canary Wharf
  • Nasa Apollo missions: Stories of the last Moon men

    Harrison Schmitt is photographed next to the United States flag on the lunar surface during the Apollo 17 mission. The highest part of the flag appears to point toward our planet Earth in the distant background. Its red and white stripes are also reflected in the visor of Schmitt's helmet.
  • 'An escape from feeling lonely': The Seoul 'convenience stores' fighting isolation

    A lively and colorful pedestrian street in Seoul, filled with vibrant crosswalk designs, unique shops, and bustling activity. A woman stands in the middle of a zebra crossing in a winter jacket carrying the sign 'escape room, half price'
  • What we know about Israel's plan to take over Gaza City

    Palestinians hold out pots and bowls, jostling to reach the front of a line as they await meals distributed by aid groups in Gaza City
  • US shrugs off Gaza escalation - drifting further away from allies

    US President Donald Trump greets Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as he arrives for a meeting at the West Wing of the White House
  • Big Mags: The paedophile-hunting granny who built a heroin empire

    Mags Haney outside her home in the Raploch talking to two police officers. The photo from the mid 1990s shows Haney with short bleached blond hair and big earrings. She is wearing a pink cardigan and and orange t-shirt. A number of locals are standing around watching the scene
  • Summer Essential: Your family’s guide to the summer, delivered to your inbox every Tuesday

    concentric circles ranging from orange to yellow to represent the sun, with a blue sky background
loading elsewhere stories

Most read

  1. 1

    'People are angry': Behind the wave of asylum hotel protests

  2. 2

    Prince Andrew book seals his fate for any return

  3. 3

    'JD Vance sends warning to UK' and 'Scam by me'

  4. 4

    Faith, family and fishing - the unlikely bond between JD Vance and David Lammy

  5. 5

    Elon Musk's AI accused of making explicit AI Taylor Swift videos

  6. 6

    'Are we not working class enough?' Students divided on civil service internship reform

  7. 7

    Jim Lovell, Apollo 13 astronaut, dies aged 97

  8. 8

    Is super skinny back? UK sees rise in complaints over thin models in adverts

  9. 9

    Woman dies after lifeboat rescues her from sea

  10. 10

    Israel rejects international criticism of Gaza City takeover plan

BBC News Services

  • On your mobile
  • On smart speakers
  • Get news alerts
  • Contact BBC News

Best of the BBC

  • Your latest reality TV obsession has landed on iPlayer

    • Attribution
      iPlayer
    Destination X
  • Jacob Elordi stars in explosive war drama

    • Attribution
      iPlayer
    The Narrow Road to the Deep North
  • Inside the front-line fight against cybercriminals

    • Attribution
      iPlayer
    Panorama: Fighting Cyber Criminals
  • A rare glimpse into the world of rope access

    • Attribution
      iPlayer
    Our Lives: High Stakes
  • Home
  • News
  • Sport
  • Weather
  • iPlayer
  • Sounds
  • Bitesize
  • CBBC
  • CBeebies
  • Food
  • Terms of Use
  • About the BBC
  • Privacy Policy
  • Cookies
  • Accessibility Help
  • Parental Guidance
  • Contact the BBC
  • Make an editorial complaint
  • BBC emails for you

Copyright © 2025 BBC. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Read about our approach to external linking.