Hackers have hijacked the site and uploaded adult content, replacing the original content for kids
Children and content related to children have been repeatedly targeted by cyber bullies and hackers, over the Internet. Parents and kids have been tricked by hackers numerous times and the disparaging content placement over the various channels of the Internet have been a cause of worry for long. Not to mention of the smaller websites, even recognized ones such as YouTube could not avoid the ghastly acts of hackers and prevent the content of their website from being distorted. The alert is: You were happy that your kids were growing up watching the Sesame Street entertaining videos that you yourself had watched a lot in your childhood. Well, but the popularity of the YouTube channel for Sesame Street has caught the attention of some malevolent hackers. They have targeted this kid-focused YouTube channel, hacked, and distorted its content, and made it just the opposite – from being a kid-friendly site, it has now become the most unfriendly site for kids.
On Sunday, October 16, 2011, as children and parents tried to use the Sesame Street YouTube Channel, the channel opened up with porn video content, surprisingly! Hackers have hacked the Sesame Street YouTube Channel, changed the profile description, and even deleted all the original videos of the channel. The design of the channel has been also found to be modified. All those child-friendly, preschool video content of The Big Bird and Kermit the Frog were erased and hardcore porn content replaced those videos. The content was live for quite a while and it took 22 minutes for Google to take action, to make it unavailable from the web. Google, the parent company of YouTube, has now pulled down the Sesame Street channel and the NSFW (Not Safe for Work) content. Google has also reported violation of terms and specifically reasoned that the channel has been withdrawn “due to repeated or severe violations of [YouTube] community guidelines”.
Before Google took any official action on the matter, comments on the XXX content pointed out that a YouTube user named MrEdxwx perhaps posted the graphic content. Nevertheless, the accused user has denied by saying that he “… did not hack Sesame Street. I am an honest YouTuber. I work hard to make quality gameplay videos, and most important I respect the community guidelines.” It does not matter who is behind such malicious activities; the content posted on Sesame Street YouTube channel is itself enough evidence that the nostalgic feeling parents usually associate and nurture of the lane of Sesame Street has been tarnished big time.
