YouTube Kids app flooded with conspiracy theory videos - report

Months after YouTube cracked down on violent content appearing on its kid-focused app, a new problem has emerged.

The YouTube Kids app is now reportedly serving up videos about chemtrails, human sacrifices, the Kennedy assassination and conspiracy theories.

Business Insider Australia reports several videos featuring conspiracy theorist David Icke have appeared on the platform, which is meant to only have videos suitable for young children.

Mr Icke's beliefs include that Earth's leaders are shape-shifting alien lizards responsible for the 9/11 attacks, the Columbine shooting and water fluoridation.

"Search for 'UFO' on YouTube Kids and you'll mostly find videos of toys that are clearly fine for children to watch. But one of the top videos claimed to show a UFO shooting at a chemtrail," wrote Business Insider Australia's James Cook.

David Icke.
David Icke. Photo credit: Facebook/David Icke

Other clips promoted bogus ideas that the Earth was flat, the moon landing was a hoax and staff working on the Large Hadron Collider were sucked into a "magic portal".

After users watched many of the clips, YouTube Kids began suggesting other videos, like "PROOF Of Aliens On The Moon In Apollo Radio Transmissions".

Business Insider said YouTube was quick to delete inappropriate videos once notified, but others remained.

"Sometimes we miss the mark," YouTube told Business Insider in a statement.

"The YouTube Kids app is home to a wide variety of content that includes enriching and entertaining videos for families. This content is screened using human-trained systems.

"That being said, no system is perfect and sometimes we miss the mark. When we do, we take immediate action to block the videos or, as necessary, channels from appearing in the app. We will continue to work to improve the YouTube Kids app experience."

Last year YouTube came under fire for recommending videos containing extreme violence and sexual content to kids. The controversy was dubbed 'Elsagate' because many of the clips features people dressed up as characters like Elsa from Frozen or Spider-Man.

Newshub.