![]() On its surface, the moral panic over Huggy Wuggy videos corrupting online youth is very similar to the uproar over the Momo Challenge, a 2019 viral hoax suggesting that a creepy Japanese ghost child was being edited by bad actors into child-friendly YouTube videos and instructing children to self-harm. At least one of the creators behind one of these videos, which has been cited in viral mom Facebook posts, stated that he had marked his video “not safe for kids” upon uploading it to the YouTube platform, according to Snopes, and that he had never seen ay evidence that it had made its way to YouTube Kids. Other videos also include fan-made “songs” about the character, such as one song with the lyrics, “His name is huggy huggy wuggy/ if he hugs you you’ll never stop/ your friend huggy, huggy wuggy/ he will squeeze you until you pop.” Such videos, however, are not associated with MOB Games or Poppy Playtime itself. One such video from October 2021 found by Rolling Stone features a fan edit of Huggy Wuggy chasing the beloved children’s cartoon character Peppa Pig, underscored with terrifying music, but the video is clearly labeled 13+ and would ostensibly not be visible to any children on the platform (YouTube’s terms of service only permit users 13 and up.) It’s also true that there are many fan-made videos featuring the character Huggy Wuggy on YouTube’s main platform, many of which would be quite disturbing to small children. Although the character incorporates the iconography of kid-friendly entertainment, such as fuzzy blue fur and a wide smile, it does so in an objectively terrifying way and is clearly not targeted at children. ![]() Poppy Playtime is not targeted at small children: It’s rated age 12 and up on iOS (although other game reviews list it as 8+). It’s a character from the popular (adults-oriented) video game Poppy Playtime, made by the developer MOB Games, about a former toy store factory employee who returns to his old workplace and is stalked by Huggy Wuggy and other terrifying toys. The truth is, Huggy Wuggy is a real character - but not one that stems from the twisted mind of trolls trying to traumatize young children. outlet Dorset Live quoted a Dorset Police officer specifically stating that the videos were being served to extremely young children, stating, “if you were to use even YouTube Kids, for example, it may slip through because there is nothing obviously sinister about the name of a video.” There have been a small number of reports to this effect, albeit not super well-substantiated ones: A mother recently told the British outlet Sky News, for instance, that her three-year-old son had attempted to jump out the window after seeing his older siblings play a Huggy Wuggy game on the gaming platform Roblox. Since then, such claims have circulated among schools, mom Facebook groups, and police departments all over the world, followed by claims that children were attempting to replicate the actions of Huggy Wuggy. The March 22 post, according to Snopes, featured what was supposedly an email from her child’s school, warning about a “very deceiving character” who “sings worrying songs about hugging and killing.” The post stated that children had stumbled on such videos on TikTok, YouTube, and even YouTube Kids, which is designed for children from preschool age to 12. Such rumors started taking root in the United Kingdom first, following a Facebook post (which has since been deleted) reportedly published by a concerned mom. Such videos are reportedly prompting children to reenact those videos on the playground by hugging each other extremely tightly and whispering the gruesome lyrics to each other. Case in point: the recent panic over Huggy Wuggy, a character from a video game franchise who is the subject of hysterical reports posted in police and mom Facebook groups.Īccording to multiple local news outlets, YouTube and TikTok are replete with videos featuring a character named Huggy Wuggy, a horrifying blue creature with razor-sharp teeth who kind of looks like a cross between Grover, Slender Man, and Forky from Toy Story 4. These reports suggest that children are watching videos featuring Huggy Wuggy - which include songs about him hugging people “until you breathe your last breath” - and getting not-so-good ideas. There’s nothing that parents of small children love more than giving kids unfettered access to phones and iPads - then freaking out over what kinds of age-inappropriate content they may be seeing on such devices.
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