Schools across Wales and the rest of the UK are warning parents to watch out for an inappropriate video circulating on YouTube and TikTok which has left children deeply traumatised. The 'Huggy Wuggy' video, which features a killer teddy bear, has reportedly slipped through parental filters and has since been re-enacted by pupils in the playground.
Headteachers in some parts of the country have sent emails to parents urging them to be extra vigilant and check that their child is not accessing this video or any other inappropriate content. Here's everything you need to know about Huggy Wuggy and how to stop your child watching it.
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Who is Huggy Wuggy?
The animated character goes by the friendly name of Huggy Wuggy which leads parents and children to believe the videos are aimed at youngsters and contain no inappropriate material. But the blue bear-like creature, who has has long arms and rows of razor sharp teeth, chases and threatens other characters in nightmarish scenarios. You can get more parenting news and other story updates by subscribing to our newsletters here.
In one video, the character offers free hugs accompanied with the lyrics: "I could hug you here forever, till you breathe your last breath together." In another song, Huggy Wuggy invites people to "lean in for a spine-breaking embrace".
The character is originally from a survival horror game called Poppy Playtime but has since been made into popular videos which appear on YouTube and have seemingly slipped through parental controls. Poppy Playtime first appeared on Steam and is made by indie developer MOB Games. In it, the player plays as a former employee who is revisiting an abandoned toy factory previously owned by the game's in-universe company Playtime Co. 10 years after the staff have seemingly vanished without a trace.
It is also available on the App Store and Android store and has a PEGI 12 rating, meaning it is suitable for people over 12. Toys representing the character are sold on Amazon. The Huggy Wuggy character has also been recreated on Roblox, a virtual community where users can create their own 3D worlds with their own game players.
What are parents saying about it?
Mum-of-two Rhia Fearn, 35, of Etwall, Derbyshire, said she was left shocked when her son Harrison, five, came home from school asking about the character. She said: "A couple of weeks ago he started to talk about Huggy Wuggy, which I innocently thought was a good character because of his name. I was asking him questions about whether he was a goodie, and Harrison was adamant, 'no he's a baddie and he kills people'. That was really contradictory for me because I thought 'that can't be right - he's called Huggy Wuggy'.
"He said children at school had been talking about it and one of his friends had been watching it. This weekend we were out shopping and he spotted a boy with the teddy and he said 'that's Huggy Wuggy, look Mummy.' It was my first glimpse of the physicality of Huggy Wuggy and that prompted me to ask a bit more about him. He told me Huggy Wuggy kills everyone he meets and he's not nice, he's a baddie and he's very mean.
"I believe it's accessible on Youtube and it's really frightening that this Huggy Wuggy has snuck in under my radar as a parent and infiltrated my child's mind without me even being aware. Now I feel really silly for not listening more intently to what my son was telling me and realising the violence this character portrays.
"Kids want to play the games of Huggy Wuggy, they are talking about it in the playground. It's really frightening as a lot of parents will be oblivious to this level of violence our children are being exposed to. We need help and awareness because it's scary how it goes under the radar. I think I'm pretty conscious what I let Harrison get exposed to but when it happens in conversations in the playground, I think parents and schools need to be more vigilant."
What are the authorities doing about it?
Some UK police forces have issued warnings to parents while schools have also stepped in to issue advice to mums and dads. Chris Conroy, cyber protect officer for Dorset Police, said: "There are videos people have made, songs people have made, and it's popping up all over YouTube and Tik Tok 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.
"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. It really comes down to paying attention of what your children are doing and making sure they are not just trusting YouTube Kids videos are safe because, unfortunately, with videos like this, things do slip through the cracks." YouTube has said the videos are not available on YouTube Kids.
One school in Wales sent this message out to parents on Wednesday morning which states: "It has come to our notice that some of our Foundation Phase pupils are watching inappropriate videos on YouTube. The Huggy Wuggy video has apparently slipped through the filters of YouTube and TikTok, due to the innocent name, meaning that young children are viewing the clips. Please check that your child is not accessing this video or any other inappropriate videos."
What are YouTube and other social media doing about it?
A YouTube spokesperson told Sky News : "These videos are not available on YouTube Kids. Additionally, on YouTube Kids, all of our parental controls are free for parents to customise the experience for their children, enabling them to control what they can or cannot see. This includes the ability to handpick the content, choose content levels by age, to block content, and more."
A Roblox spokesperson said: "We work tirelessly to maintain a platform that is safe and civil for all. We strongly encourage parents and kids to use our Report Abuse tools to report any content or behaviour they encounter on Roblox that might make them feel uncomfortable or that may fall foul of our Community Standards.
"We also empower and encourage parents to determine what is appropriate for their children by providing a suite of parental control settings that can be used to restrict who children can interact with, what experiences they can access, and how much they can spend. Parents can find dedicated tips and advice on our safety and civility pages to help them manage their children's accounts."
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