Isibaya actress Ayanda Borotho’s warning to parents about dangers of Youtube for kids

Mzansi actress and former model Ayanda Borotho has warned parents to be vigilant about the content their kids consume on Youtube.

The actress, who is best known for playing the title role in the SABC 1 sitcom Nomzamo and Phumelele Zungu on Isibaya, warned of the dangers caused by some of the content on Youtube.

Ayanda revealed that some of the content on Youtube poses dangers to young kids and has demonic influences. She shared concerns about a character called Huggy Wuggy, whose viral videos are very popular.

Posting on photo-sharing social media platform, Ayanda Borotho wrote,

“Please spread this to parents and guardians. Please check what your kids are watching on YouTube. I checked this out myself after my sister in law alerted me to it. You honestly don’t want your kids watching this thing. It’s disguised as a cartoon, but it’s actually just plain demonic.”

She then posted a picture of Huggy Wuggy and a warning written by another apparently concerned parent. The unidentified parent wrote,

“Parents please be on the lookout for this character called huggy wuggy. (Something like that) I literally caught my daughter watching this thing telling her to cut herself and kill herself. I broke her phone out of shock and disabled YouTube from all our tvs (mind you I have a age restriction on all the devices). Its so scary that kids aren’t safe from this messed up world.”

According to Sky News, in the United Kingdom, parents have been warned to be extra vigilant over Huggy Wuggy’s viral videos.

A terrified parent, Beth Buxton, 31, told Sky News her 3-year-old son used to watch videos of Huggy Wuggy online with her two daughters. Buxton said,

“He got to the stage where he didn’t know the difference between reality and gaming. He tried to climb up my bedroom window, saying he would die and come back to life, telling me that’s what Huggy Wuggy does.

“We have banned Roblox and put locks on YouTube. I have window locks being installed next week because he is still thinking about it. There are numerous terrifying characters in these games.

“He was going into school talking about killing and guns as if it was happening at home.”

West View Primary School in Hartlepool, England, also warned parents to monitor their children when on Youtube due to the dangers of characters like Huggy Wuggy.

The school expressed concern over the character who “sings worrying songs about hugging and killing”.

It said: “In one of the videos, the bear asks the viewer to take their last breath. It is a very deceiving character, as hugs should be seen as something kind and love and because of its name is able to infiltrate firewalls and filters.”

Chris Conroy, a cyber protect officer for Dorset Police also said:

“There are videos people have made, songs people have made, and it’s popping up all over YouTube and TikTok using this quite graphic imagery of this bear-like character with razor-sharp teeth. It’s based around jump scares and things you certainly wouldn’t want children exposed to.”