We became a 15 year old furry on Twitter | Twitter Philes Pt. 2 

New pinned comment for those who feel the need to "scold me" and don't actually watch it or read anything on screen: 1. No, I did not send 90% of the messages, especially to the minors. A friend of mine, who I talked about in the video but wishes to remain nameless, did most of the "legwork" when replying to these people. 2. No, we did not initiate conversation with anyone under the age of 18 (we hardly did this at all even with the adults). The one example of it happening was because my friend, who is very much a crusader against things like z****ilia (not that I blame him), initiated conversation for the sole purpose of ripping on that kid. I did not authorize this, but never, at any point, were there romantic or s**ual advances made towards *any* the minors in the video for obvious reasons. This was originally meant to be an experiment to see how many followers a generic furry Twitter account could gather in a short period of time, and this was done well before my channel was remotely popular. All of this is the result of the sheer amount of people who DMed us with this unhealthy borderline parasocial relationship with our account. 3. The minors were showcased in this video to prove a point, and there is a reason all of their names are censored. If they happen to see this video (which some might have), only they know it's them. They can deal with that personal shame but also treat it as a learning experience (despite it being a bit much looking back). All in all, I definitely believe I should've been a bit more tactful with the section involving minors, but my point in that section still stands. Kids are opening themselves up too easily to strangers just because they are furries or because they have a "cute fursona". That was the entire point of that section, not to expose some 15 year old kid for making a dumb decision. Please watch the video and don't automatically assume the worst when it comes to dealing with minors in the furry community. Just because they aren't 18 doesn't mean they shouldn't be taught a lesson via example, which, again, is why I included that section in this video.

imagine finding out your first online crush is a fully grown man doing an investigation 💀💀💀

took me 30 stamina bars 25 health potions 20 golden apples 15 medkits 10 chug jugs and 5 heart transplants to get through all the roleplay portions

I honestly hate how people blur out predators, I'm SO glad you guys didn't and now everyone can report them. Their users and faces need to be spread out so we know who not to interact with.

That fourth kid broke my heart. My son is almost 15 and I can’t imagine treating him the way he says his family treats him. I hope things got better for him.

this is horrifying to see how a lot of kids end up being influenced to act like this

dude the minor #4 literally broke my heart. its so sad seeing a text like "my mom didnt really care about me" and "you are so kind to me" (when all Jax did is talk and listen to the guy). i think if he genuently thought he had a crush on someone he barely talked to and barely knows, it shows that he had so little love and affection given to him that even a crumb of appreciation can make him think he fell in love. its actually so sad and the fact that he says that he has 60 days.... it could mean something like "oh i will not have time for twitter in about 60 days better make it count" or "i have planned to off myself in 60 days." and im really worried about his mental health because if he is at that point to actually plan it.... then im not sure that he can go back to being okay again (ive been there, it took me about 3 years of therapy)

despite being a 14 year old (literally the age range of all of this stuff) I will vow to never use twitter. I am so grateful that I have the knowledge to identify signs of potential grooming, alongside other nasty things. I wish I could pass down my knowledge (and have your knowledge passed down) to many others around my age (puberty). Thank you Jax.

As a 17 year old whose not a furry, all I will say is I don't think this is inherently a furry fandom problem, but, a internet problem in general. When I was around 13/14 I was your typical "weird kid" at school and was bullied and made fun of, this obviously had negative implications on my mental health but was just made worse by a unsupportive family. I was on Discord ALOT up until around late 15 and it was a space where I felt like I could hide behind this mask of sorts and not have to worry about being made fun of so it made me feel comfortable and safe, however I also relate to how many of these kids desperately seek relationships to feel a sense of security and just in general feeling like they have someone who actually cares about this. Honestly it just made the already horrible situation worse as every time I was eventually turned down and or broken up with after a month or two it would send me into a suicidal depressive spiral that would just send me seeking even more relationships. The internet is just fucked place for kids, or the world.

I'm a former victim of furry grooming that started when I was around 12-13 years old (I'm 29 now) If you want to do a video on the effects grooming has had on my life as well as my experience, I'd be more than willing to set up an interview with you to give people an insight into what can happen if this stuff goes untreated. I really want to do this to help the young kids that might be attracted to furries avoid the same pitfalls and traps that I fell into and possibly avoid leading the kind of life I struggle through now.

Finally, after years of research, our scientists have found… Actual healthy discussion about the furry community that isn’t for the sake to put anyone down in the dirt. Truly spectacular.

The RedAlphaWolf section was a fucking trip. You can't know for sure what actually happened with him, but it definitely wasn't anything good. It's times like these that I'm thankful I didn't get involved in the fandom until my mid-20s. I'm in no danger of being groomed, and I don't hesitate to cut contact with someone who acts sus.

I am late to the party, but since I have last seen this video about a year ago, I have professionally entered the world of mental healthcare. Along with that, I have witnessed and interacted with a lot of people suffering from profound mental disturbances that derive from abusive or neglectful childhoods. In re-watching this video, I see a lot of early indicators of ambivalent manipulative social behaviors in the younger kids that messaged you. Things like ambiguous threats of suicide, emotional blackmailing, and frequent conversation that usually elicits others' support and compassion All of which are topics where boundaries are easily waived (usually unconsciously) to ensure collective and inter-personal wellbeing, and even social status, and love-bombing to pursue some type of relationship whether sexual or romantic. Gonna cover a lot, so bear with me. The ways that some of the kids in this video speak - albeit, with immaturely executed but ADULT-LEVEL manipulative communication strategies - towards the publisher's confederate "15-year-old" through DMs indicates that there are likely many children with unaddressed inter-relational boundary issues, and further indicates to me that not only are they at risk of being taken advantage of, but that there ARE people who acknowledge it and use that willingly (unconscious or not). More egregiously, that there are some disgusting souls out there in the DMs who do this on top of encouraging that type of social behavior in children whom may not otherwise have a functional support system promoting healthy social interactions like what should be typically found in familial, religious, educational, clinical, or other important institutions and systems in their lives to fulfill unmet fundamental psychological needs. I say encouraging because whatever style of communication that is used is demonstrated inter-socially and conditioned/normalized through frequency of usage. Whether or not these kids are experimenting socially and finding out their boundaries online without in-person contact (many are, and its highly likely because of the factitiously perceived "anonymous" nature of the internet. Which has always served as an "at-distance" practice ground for social interaction among kids), the high risk of existing predators within communities whom promote high-acceptance and "no-strings-attached" emotional support systems that don't adequately address behaviors and the consequences they may have opens the door for abuse, grooming, and very real consequences that CAN'T be acknowledged or understood by the survivors they may end up creating. A triangle of abuse forms, where the abused child is victimized, the perpetuator victimizes, and the community rescues the child in the AFTERMATH of abuse, rather than seeking to prevent it altogether proactively. Something that is extremely difficult in the online world. Children need paternal support for primary needs and don't usually have the ability to get them for themselves (food, emotional and physical safety, etc.) Neglectful and abusive caregivers usually provide the bare minimum or less. Children in abusive households with high neglect often learn that "exaggerative" behaviors are the only way to get a response from the one or many people who they know are responsible for them (whether its attention to their needs or further abuse, just the mere possibility of receiving support is enough of a reason to seek caregiver attention. Even if neglectful or hurtful) This constant effort for attention and immature usage of manipulation, that is otherwise expected in children, becomes habitual when done over time. That habitual behavioral tendency matures to fit a child's ever-changing surrounding social environment as they age. The NEED for support is biologically more important than the RISK of potentially getting hit with a bottle, or even revoltingly, molested. Mostly because kids can't provide for themselves. Its just how humans have developed, whether a social, evolutionary, pre-existing construct. Historically, that has ALWAYS been the case for humans. When matured social behaviors (like people pleasing, social manipulation, love-bombing, emotional blackmailing, etc.) come to present in children consistently over time, its ALWAYS a because they became conditioned into its normalization by their caregivers or support systems during childhood. To this end, they can - and usually do - propagate into adulthood in a modulated way (behaviors are adopted, adjusted, or "purged" to meet the demands of adult-level social interactions, and can sometimes be disguised as acceptable forms of inter-relational interaction like the aforementioned examples. When contextualized to anti-social behaviors that have pre-existed before entering adulthood, the "efficacy" of seeking a desired outcome that is both extremely harmful to themselves and others is heightened. Hence, why emphasizing pro-social behaviors like sharing, perspective taking, understanding personal and inter-personal emotions, and even mindfulness is such a big deal for children as the develop into adolescence. Certain behavioral models lend to inducing healthy boundaries more than others (can vary per culture), but typically those who are abused or are conditioned into normalized unhealthy social patterns often - unknowingly - direct themselves into situations where they are familiar. Sadly, sometimes the environments - through past lived experience - lend to a scenario where the abuse continues. Behaviors that have pre-existed before adolescence are progressively scaffolded upon and routines that had earlier in life been used to sustain fundamental needs from their environment become the normal way of regulating ourselves and the ways we regulate the environments around us. For all children, those behavioral patterns are ALL THEY KNOW. For adults, it can be the ONLY thing that is comfortable. Hence why we act so much like our parents or the significant figures in our lives. In conditions where people of all ages have frequent and intimate (vulnerability is socially expressed and received) personal involvement, yet (a) can't adequately monitor for or address the abusers as individuals before they act, (b) do not address the child AND community members with protective conditional restrictions before they are allowed to engage with eachother, and (c) fail to address the community - which varies profoundly per community and the many ways people within them may identify and organize collectively - and the often hierarchical dynamics they can create for abusers who often demonstrate grooming behaviors BEFORE the point of no return, silent and anonymous abuse will continue to exist. Its extremely disheartening, but it may not be something that can ever be possible. The furry community, and many others for that matter, who are highly accepting and very empathetic to mental health struggles enable a lot of childrens' maladaptive social communicative skills by ONLY empathizing and not adequately addressing these behaviors or the struggles that the children are having. Its never a bad thing to empathize with anyone who is having trouble, especially if they communicate that it would help, but this doesn't adequately treat the problem or give these kids the right skills and knowledge to deal with their mental anguish or even build healthy relationships for that matter. What is the most worst, is that there are people in these communities that take ease in abusing these poor children.

I really love how you don’t blame the children, when I was 14 I got into my first online relationship which was a horrible mistake, they were a toxic, abusive and manipulative son of a bitch but yknow. ANYWAYS. I don’t hold that against myself, I was seeking comfort, and I think that’s what a lot of kids do this stuff for.

Note being a Furry isn't necessarily wrong. But Zoophilia and Pedophilia is and its deplorable what some people do. Absolutely disgusting. Please be safe out there people.

so as fifteen year old who isn't even hugely into all this stuff, it's extremely rampant. not just in the furry community but literally everywhere. anyone with unmonitored internet access can easily get into dangerous situations in a matter of minutes. there is a genuinely surprising amount of sexualization of minors everywhere, especially in group chats/DMs. I honestly don't really know how this situation can be handled other than spreading information to parents and having them make sure nothing shady is going on but ofc this will likely never happen due to so many things.

This happens because young people who aren't given guidance and love becomes gullible to any sort of affection a stranger gives them. I see this happen everywhere but it's more common in the furry community because it tend to attract mentally unhealthy people who are looking for a sense of comfort.

I'm not a furry but a similar thing happened in a fandom I was in. It effed me up so badly that I ended up crying on my 18th birthday because I didn't think I had any sexual value anymore.

I'm very concerned about what the 4th kid could have ment about "only having 60 days" to pursue you, especially considering his clear mental health issues and his account being completely inactive now. God, I hope that poor boy got help, please God don't let him have hurt himself or worse

I’ve been in the fandom since I was 9 years old. I had struggled with an addiction to furry NSFW. So far I’ve been clean for about 6 months. Recently I’ve almost relapsed back to that addiction. Seeing these videos about these issues within the fandom has helped me get away from potentially relapsing. Your videos don’t sugarcoat and they get right to the point. It’s motivated me to seek help outside of just trying to “ignore it”. I’m going to bring this up to my therapist, and my parents. This way I can get professional help. I’m 17 now, I joined this fandom was I was 9. I was first introduced to NSFW at 13 and I’ve had an addiction ever since. So, now I’m feeling confident to professional help, alongside trying to squish my bad habits. Thank you dude for making this video. I’m going to come back to this ever time I need motivation to keep seeking the help I need.

"one thing that's mandatory, your butt has to stink" is the funniest, most unparalleled rizz ive ever heard im my life. take notes people, the messiah of getting bitches is before us

As someone who was ten in the furry fandom, (that Warrior cats to furry pipeline go crazy) I was completely oblivious to this stuff as the communities I was in were very guarded by adult moderators who didn’t take any bullshit, lol. So grateful to have grown up in a community full of great people

Man, learning about these kids who fall in love with an anonymous stranger on the internet after a couple days of chatting, because they are ao desperate for admiration and sympathy is just so sad. I wish them all the best

As a minor in the furry fandom, this video is so fucking important. These issues never get discussed. This is why I do not state my age on my social media accounts. It is so important for children online to understand that adults trying to talk to you online in an odd manner IS NOT normal. The furry fandom as a whole needs to realize that regardless of whether only some furries are predators, it is important to work towards protecting kids as young as 9.

Honestly, I left the fandom quickly after joining it because of this. People say the sexual parts aren’t a big part of the fandom, and it’s a safe haven but it’s… not. Another note, I made a freshman friend in my junior year of highschool (just last year) during robotics. I found out fairly quickly that not only was he a furry, but he was actively participating in the changed fandom (a literal fetish game) and actively used VRChat. When he gave me his VRChat user to friend so we could hang out his user bio… horrified me. He had put in that he was a ‘bottom’ and looking for doms and roleplays and I RAN to discord to tell him to remove it, that he was WAY too young to be putting that out and that it could put him in serious danger of those who would use it against him. Suffice to say the whole ordeal left me. Shaken. This seemingly innocent kid who was slightly nerdy had a WHOLE other personality online- that wasn’t too shocking I suppose, we all do- but the fact he was so… open. So blatant- it scared me. It scared me what he was getting into- what people he was interacting with- how many people had already abused his naivety? How many ill-intentioned adults had possibly already left permanent scars on him? Did my words even have any impact? It still worries me, I REALLY hope he took my words to heart.

That “E-RPing on fucking GMAIL” line had me laughing so fucking hard 😂

"Im actually the same age as you" is a totally normal and unsuspicious way to start a conversation with a stranger

I just turned 18, and ever since i put 18 in my bio, I stopped getting so many dms 😅 especially about my… body. It is freaking dangerous out there yall. And people. No matter your gender, age, weight, etc. you can all fall victim to sexual violence. If it can happen to me, a more masculine boy, who was very physically active, THEN IT CAN HAPPEN TO YOU

Hot take: It's no surprise that teens are horny, but it's no joke when they get groomed. It happens so often on the internet because it's private and anonymous, and any teenager can use it to seek out whatever they may feel deprived of. Of course, it starts with a pretext of people going online just to get off, not to make genuine connections, but these grooming cases all end up with neglect for the needs of real human interaction. I think the reason those kids clinged to Ebbigen so badly is because he genuinely listened to what they had to say in lieu of making/accepting sexual advances. To you, that's just journalistic integrity, being a good interviewer with a code of ethics. But to them, that's having their long neglected needs finally met. The stigma around sex in society causes people not to teach kids what is and isn't safe to do, and when they inevitably venture out into it, as adults or otherwise, to satiate their basic biological needs, many don't have the roadmap to avoid going down the dark road of neglect, abuse, and heartbreak.

49:26 One of my closest friends was like this. Me and him are both 16 and about to enter our Junior year of high school. This happened Sophomore year, he was 15 at the time. My friend wanted to dress like a femboy publicly (thigh highs and everything). Me and another close friend talked to him about it. We suggested he shouldn’t dress like a femboy, we told him we were worried he would be bullied or preyed on by the people at our school. He ended up opening up to us about some dark and touchy stuff and reassured us he wouldn’t dress up like one anymore. He doesn’t have a great home life so right now we are offering him food and a place to stay.

Okay, im not like a victim of pedophilia or a furry, but this video made me realize just how mentally ill i used to be, like at around 14:52 in Jax says something along the lines of "the fact that they fell in love with someone that theyve barely talked to and never even seen is incredibly telling about their mental health" and holy shit thats the exact same shit i did idk how many years ago, i never told anyone about it, but jesus christ

My brother is 19 and I recall finding out he was a furry a year before covid started, which I believe he was around 15 to 16 years old... I hope he didn’t have to go through all of this. He is quite open about the furry fandom to me and talks often about his fursona and his friends to me yet I still feel somehow worried

the stuff you said about how the furry community effects minors really struck a nerve with me, as it reminded me a lot of one of my friends. I know someone whos only 13 and became a furry a few months ago, and ever since I've noticed them talking about nsfw stuff more and more often i.e making dumb jokes about furry cp "AnD hE iSn'T tAlKiNg AbOuT cHeEsE pIzZa" or bringing up games like changed or tailbound. While its mainly just him joking around, I just cant shake the feeling that its just not healthy for a 13 year old to be thinking about that kinda junk all the time. I know anyone reading this didn't come here to read me vent about one of my friends, but I just wanted to put this forward as a cautionary tale that hopefully helps younger furries know about how stuff like this can happen.

i was in the art/furry community on tumblr when i was 11 yrs old to when i was around 17 yrs. its full of kids who are depressed, suicidal, desperate for relationships (i cant even count the amount of advances i got after only 1-2 interactions), in abusive households, and groomers are so rampant they know exactly what these kids want to hear. i was groomed throughout my teens and i am still trying to wrap my head around the fact that a 25 year old had no business being 'friends' with a 13 year old me. i recently returned to the community, now in my early twenties, and the same circle of people around my age acts... exactly the same. depression. brainrot anime art. casual suicidality. sh pics on the tl. it fucking sucks. it struck a chord in me when you said that kids who grew up around this environment grow into adults that have no way of teaching young ones now how to recognize mental health issues, because we ourselves never got that kind of support. its awful knowing that there are still communities of children exploring sexuality at too early of an age in a completely misguided way. thanks for having this conversation. nobody else really addresses this.

Kids can often become tolerant of the taboo because of tactics shown in your video. When you're seen as "the other" with different interests, it's hard to find and communicate with other people regarding these interests in real life. This can lead to some seeking refuge through fandom via the internet. I witnessed aplenty with the My Little Pony fandom at one point which members would claim "love and tolerance" to anything and everything, even Nazis. I have witnessed minors claim to be "MAPs", zoophiles and a whole lot more on social media; please keep in mind that often or not they are groomed into these mindsets and are not these things. These kids never deserve to be harassed over this and should be given proper guidance or have their guardians involved, if contact with them can be made. When there's these adults in your fanbase taking advantage of children, call them out. Get rid of them. They should never be welcomed into an environment where they can groom, abuse and manipulate children like this. It is our responsibility as adults to shun these people out and report them to the proper authorities. Don't allow them get away with these things. It makes my blood boil knowing that there's adults that actively seek out children to ERP with because they're less knowing of the consequences, and easy to manipulate because of no life experience. I very much hope that the authorities were notified or tipped off for RedAlphaWolf.

By the time you see this, I am gone and won't be back for a few weeks. See you then!

Watching this makes me sick. It’s bringing back memories of my teenage years in the fandom where my loneliness and need for positive attention led to me being groomed by adults. It fucking breaks my heart to see that ten years later nothing has changed.

maybe this is a hot take but i definitely don't think this is just a furry community issue, i think it's more of a "kids/teens on internet in general" issue. i acted exactly the same way at 14-15 despite never joining any furry community (though i was in other fandom spaces a lot) and had many similar conversations and relationships as the ones you mentioned in this video. i was that kid who was hypersexualizing themself and the characters they roleplayed and had many inappropriate interactions with 18+ people without realizing at the time how wrong it was of those people to do those things with a minor. i think it's definitely more of an issue of how kids who have an unstable environment irl or are going through mental struggles will be more prone to seeking out that kind of content. i know when i was younger i was absolutely DESPERATE to feel any kind of love or positive attention bc i was severely lacking it irl, and at some point i came to associate being sexualized as being "desired", so that's why i kept seeking it out. the furry community is already known as being made of "weirdos" and attracts a lot of LGBTQ+ people, most of whom face some type of discrimination or instability in their lives. so that's probably why the furry community sees a LOT of kids who are like this, but it's definitely not because of furries that those problems exist.

thank you for also touching on the femboy aspect of things too. The way we get sexualized has been a major issue for a while and had proven to really do damage. I had an issue with grooming and proceeded to still get sexualized even after stating my age, and at points it really made me want to quit. I prevailed and have since been more self aware about these situations by blocking the people quickly. I hope me talking about my experiences helps others be a little self aware when these kinds of things happen.

Had a girl who liked me when I was 14, they were *23* which I figured out a week later. That I could not stand for so I left them. They were "depressed" and said they would off themselves since I left.

The femboy part happened to me man. Got groomed at 15 by people on the internet. Got objectified. Don’t know who i am anymore and questioning whether im trans or not. First exposure was on amino or whatever that app was called

As a 15 year old, I genuinly am happy that I never really got into using Twitter, Titkok, Snapchat, Instagram or any other Social media except youtube, I'm happy my Parents have never allowed me to ever even use these platforms and Im super grateful that I wasn't allowed to use these Platforms, seeing all the unfortunate consequences happening to other people having the same age as me, I'm disgusted by how much this happens and I never knew this was such a widespread problem, I wish other people from my same age or Generation in general, could seek help and move away from these bad people sometimes wanting to prey on them, and god knows how many children in my age were groomed, I send my prayers for my Generation or just everyone affected by this Epidemic, I wish the best for everyone and hopefully one day this Insanity can end, Thanks for this Documentary, It has brought to light allot of issues going unnoticed.

11:40 I’m in the UK and I can kinda confirm that drinking culture is different here. From my experience, at 16 you can drink in pubs as long as you’ve got your parents with you but you have to be 18 to purchase it.

Sorry to ramble, I'd just like to share how much this video speaks to me. TW/ suggestive material ahead. It started at 12 or 11 for me. A few years later when the pandemic hit I became entirely isolated within my room, spending the most important years of my adolescence on Twitter and discord. I remember next to nothing from that time, but the ERP, toxicity, and pictures still haunt me. I never learned how to take care of my mind or body, but instead spent that area of my livelihood trying to advertise this idea of myself as a cute sexual object. Building relationships and trying to exist today takes so much out of me. I constantly have to remind myself how to act, to reach out to friends, and to channel this trauma into something resembling actual affection. This video means so much. I appreciate someone taking the time to bring fourth these problems with the community, or any online space for that matter. It is terrifying to think that there are many children going through similar abuse, and if you happen to be a victim just know life certainly gets better. You may be missing a piece of yourself, but you're still growing and everyday is a chance to heal.

I've had many of my furry friends on Twitter call out zoophiles, preds, etc. I guess I just follow the right people 😭 I hate some people on Twitter

16:35 one of the only reasons im in the fandom is because I am lonely. people in this fandom are nice to me and I really need that because people harass me irl every day, people tell me to kill myself in person, to fuck off, nobody loves you, etc. that's why I'm a part of it. for emotional support. and no I don't seek a relationship online, I have been in one before and it has made my mental health worse. I'm just lonely man

As someone who started in the fandom early on as a teen of 12-13, from the old days of DevArt and FA, and with my THANKFULLY aware parents at the time giving me quite a few talks before hand, it was wild seeing the difference in atmosphere. It was easy to avoid a lot of the creepier side of the internet (not saying it didn't exist, it's that at the time it was far rarer I'd ever see the shit like this.) Someone already mentioned it as well, how social media didn't really exist and/or wasn't as forced into our daily lives. The unspoken rule was to never engage, only lurk. A lot of folks were less active and more socially chill, atop of a lot of sites being a lot harder to get into (in my case) for anything even slightly NSFW, minus FA, that's the outlier. One thing I did notice after things like Tumblr, Twitter, Facebook and the like came out and became more open, folks did as well. There was an influx of people seeking validation of all kinds in various ways. Around this time I turned 18 myself, and had long closed down my older "lurking" accounts and such and tried giving the community a shot. (Embarrassing note, but this started in the pony fandom, which I'll save the arguing and funny memes about that for another time and say that it's arguably much worse in these problems due to the subject matter being much more cutesy and open to ages of all kinds.) During that time, nobody had ages in bios, nobody really bothered to ask for ages, and I was guilty of this myself, but a lot of folks weren't really seeking the cutesy 'owo' culture and roleplay, it was more just discussion of the porn and ideas around it namely. Over time, it grew worse however, I noticed a severe decline in mental stability in some folks, and with a lot of people kinda regressing on basic internet safety standards over the years. Folks started getting careless and becoming more, well, unhinged as it were. I remember having to block quite a few people for how really creepy they were based on just the fact I had JUST turned 18 myself months prior at the time. The focus on younger characters in that fandom is still a consistent problem that folks still can't make their minds up about. Cutting to years later, around the end of Tumblr's NSFW community (after their draconic ban of anything related to anything NSFW including kink accounts and the like) the influx of teenagers over the years to come just really drove home my distaste of interacting in the community as a whole, on top of other ongoing mental health related things, it's become a minefield of needing to dig into everyone's account that follows me on my art handles, it's made me paranoid at who reaches out to me, it's made me hateful toward peers and sometimes friends, it's gotten me also trying to kindly tell underage folks to not follow me, and respectfully seek someone for help instead of constantly phishing for attention and validation from an NSFW Twitter account. And the problem persists well after even blocking them as they'll make a fuss over it, and I hate that they feel this way but it's for the safety of everyone involved. Made even worse when they get groomers involved who then will try everything in their power to make you out to be the very thing they're doing, slandering names and tossing misinformation around everywhere so they don't get into trouble themselves and are made to seem the good guys. It's been scary if I want to have any presence online period, both in the SFW and NSFW spaces of furry communities. The mental health of our online communities is fucked, I hate being this nihilistic about it but it's truly fucked. I'm not a very healthy minded person myself, having massive anxiety problems, social anxiety, and major self esteem issues on top of rampant ADHD, so this destroys me every day seeing how clingy minors have been toward us adults in an adult space, and how the lack of parental moderation, mental health focus, and care has left these fellas in the clutches of predatory practices and behavior of not just adults, but their own peers as well. And the most fucked up thing about this is that there's not really an easy fix to this either. I've already resigned to getting off twitter, and most social media, and with the current FA drama going on, I've just slowly moved on to just focusing on my partner I'm living with, and the very very few friends I have gained over the past 8 years I've been focused on being a part of the community as a whole, Social media destroyed a lot of my love for the community, my trust in my peers and fellow artists, as well as site administrations and moderators and even potential clients and fans of my art, It's left me with bile in my throat and honestly just wanting to move on entirely from most of the internet as a whole. I hope these kids can find the help they need, and realize the mistakes they're making, and to all those other furry minors out there watching this video and sifting through the comments, please PLEASE remember to practice safety, reach out to help services if you're in a bad place, I have faith in your guys, I really fuckin do, I've been there, and I was stupid to not be very careful early on. I was lucky to have parents who looked out for me, but I know not everyone is so lucky. Please, play the safe game, don't let social media be your life, and don't rely on it for your mental health and emotional support, seek professionals, research your options, and don't EVER let these predatory individuals pressure you into ANYTHING of this nature.

0:12 thank you for giving me something to listen to while i do my homework

It's very sad to see minors turn into pedophiles themselves when they don't have the proper home and parenting they need to know how to identify and avoid child predators.

Not a furry but it's genuinely sad how alot of teens nowadays have little to no knowledge on how to deal with problems that hurt them mentally

I know that this is illegal and pretty dark but it is SO difficult not to laugh and to take it 100% seriously because they rp and say things like “uwu smooches you uwu rubbing against you lol” I CANT 😭✋

crazy to think that if i had gone down a different path on the internet as a kid something bad like this could have happened to me

As far as the issue with minors ending up seeking out NSFW content I think the biggest issue with things like that is that it’s almost impossible to NOT see NSFW content on social media or even google nowadays, I mean if you just search Minecraft Alex you have a high chance of seeing NSFW content within the first few scrolls. And teens whether they’re still below age or not are horny as fuck, and so if you expose them to NSFW content and they learn how to find it easily they’ll seek it out. So if you’re a minor on twitter for example and you follow someone who then follows someone else that makes NSFW content you have a decently high chance of that just popping up in your feed, and I know that there are a lot of kids out there who are just as curious as I was and will click to see why the image was censored. The internet is not a safe place for minors really and a lot of parents don’t really seem to get that at this point in time and let their kids on the internet before they’re even supposed to be, and so you have not only kids close to age of consent getting over exposed but even kids as young as 12 or 13, this is an issue not exclusively with the furry community but the internet as a whole but the furry community being as largely accepting as it is tends to draw these groups of over exposed and sometimes mentally unstable minors into it making it a central for kids who are in a fucked up mental state

Yeah, I don't think it's just furries. I'm 22 and 14-18 year olds when I was in school were really promiscuous, and got drunk and high all the time. I think this is because of the world falling apart

as a 16 yo furry i can say that this video its really important to me on a more personal aspect, this clearly shows some of the sides of the internet that we dont really know about that much, but its clearly there. not just on the furry fandom, but in the internet in general, its so sad seeing how all these minors that just want to share their interest, make friends or just have a good time on their devices through the internet they end up getting corrupted, sexualized and manipulated instead. I was hoping this video to be more cringe based and less serius, just joking around about furries being pedos and weirdos but i didint really expect it to be like this. i was 14 when i got my first pair of high thighs, the ppl just made me buy them, then all an on with the blink of an eye, i was already spending almost half of my money on chockers, warmers, hoodies, thigh shorts and that kind of stuff, the attention, love and kindness they gave me was nothing compared to what they gave me when i wasnt sexualizing me, in this period i actually got gromm3d 2 times and manipulated by another minor that was close to being 18, all i can say right now is that being a minor with attention, body and personalitty problems/disorders, that just wants a community to stay, feel warm and connected with, could sound good on paper but it also could end up really bad. nowdays, im still using these chockers, warmers and more femenine clothes, but no in a provocative or sexual way, wich is really hard because of how corruped the vision of this style is, people will always find something to sexualize about. i really appreciate this video, just did recap all these things that i got through 2 years ago and all the stuff that minors in this community are worried about, obviously not all furries are like this, not all ppl on the internet are like this too, in fact, not even the 1% of all the fandom is like this, but the fact that people like this still exist in the fandom without any restrictions and they still comfy doing what they do, its gross. Really good video man, thank u for this experience, like i said, didint expected it to be like this and i really enjoyed it

Stayed up to 3 am to finish this. And man, its so sad that there are people like this ruining an entire community and giving the rest, who are perfectly normal human beings a shitty image. I had never heard of this "drone" fetish before, looked it up and i have never been so weirded out from a fetish, almost just feels inhumane tbh.

so there's a massive chance you don't read this I'm 15 and 2 years ago I was groomed by a 26 year old for a year and a half on discord. she used me as a mental support and made me do some things I regret and ik this isn't furry related but in a hole I think discord and twitter have the same fanbase so she probly does the same on twitter. so videos like this spread the message to stay safe online. doesn't matter who ever you are. I could always go into it more but i honestly don't want to. (she's the reason I cant talk to adults any more even teachers alone). I needed help and she used that to trap me. I'm happy to say she's out of my life but she still works at a school sadly. but this video is a massive W and i thank you to exposing this behavior.

I’m also a former furry grooming victim. It started on amino and actually led into a full year long “relationship” when I was 13 (I’m 18 now) it involved a 21 year old but he told me he was 19 at first to try and make it seem “better” I assume. Very horrible year and it did definitely affect my life in horrible ways but I’m working through it.

RedAlphaWolf deleting all the viruses and somehow not immediately taking it to a lewd rp with a horniess virus legit almost broke me. Completely demented

I was 14 when I was new to the fandom and oh boy I really wasn't ready. Not at all. Got groomed over 3 times by people that would claim to be the classic "Supportive friends" and my naive ass didn't notice the red flags. Now I'm 18 and it's been 2 years since i left the fandom. It did damage my mental health but its not a big influence on my life fortunately. Now that I'm out I've been able to heal and work on myself, which is great. I don't like generalizing and I don't hold a grudge against furries for what i endured, but i will never join the fandom again, nor associate with any other furry. But. What's painful the most. Is that the people who groomed and hurt me are still out there. Anyways, amazing video! It's so detailed and everything was incredibly accurate to being a minor in the furry fandom.

I went through a lot of things like this in the anime fandom as a female minor. I got groomed and manipulated by men older and younger than me and it made me wake up and stop adding ppl and guarding my privacy more. Luckily i never said my informative or sent pictures but there were times where i was pressured badily by my groomers to the point i almost did it. What saved me was my parents finding my computer and taking it away.

I don't think it's just the furry community, it's society in general.

I unfortunately used to be like Minor #4, i was always seeking some sort of relationship so i can actually feel loved, and would always go after people who i was friends with but had only been friends with for like a month so i didn’t know much about them which has gotten me hurt for doing, but i was fortunate enough to stop being like that and am now actually with someone who I know extremely well, and I hope these kids who are like this will change and not be like that anymore, cause this saddens me knowing this is a real thing that can possible cause someone getting groomed, Like i genuinely hope they get help and change so they don’t go through the shit i went through.

This is investigative Journalism and it's done well, and while the subject is horrible, it needs to be documented so people know the dark corners of these communities, what jax has done here is incredible, most of the people in the videos are very well anonymised so no incests can be utterly rude and derogatory, to getting information whilst being subtle, its fucking perfect, what I would recommend is you and your group/friends go and search about others countries age of consent and learn about them more if you are going to do this type of journalism again.

when i watched this yesterday, i didnt know that as a minor in the fandom that i was being one of those kids, like its been 2 years since i joined and it was a little bit emotional to learn about what i was actually doing. But I’m really glad to see this video for me to have the right mindset again.

this reminds me of a kid I met when I first joined the fandom. Within the first 6 hours of meeting him I knew everything abt him. Age, mental illnesses, suicidal thoughts(attempts), and his whole address. He just said EVERYTHING that could come to mind and I was jus letting him talk. turns out hes also a zoo that follows many zoo accounts and some other crazy shit. this was 2ish months into the fandom and I just didnt wanna talk to people to often when that happened

I remember when I was 15, my then girlfriend was in the furry community. This was almost 10 years ago. She used to constantly get messages pressuring her into sexual acts with men and women over 18. Some even sent her nude pictures of themselves. And I think it is pretty disgusting, how this specific community is such a breeding ground for grooming. And it is precisely because it is so full of vulnerable 12-16 years old teens, who are usually the weird lonely ones in real life. Often furries are also in sexual minorities, which might make them unfortunately used to being seen as "degenerate" and "not normal". Especially in more conservative families. So to these young people with little competing friend groups, who are insecure of their identities, and who might even be used to hearing that their sexuality is something forbidden and wrong. They are so vulnerable to grooming by adults who fill that void of a relatable friend, who argue that having sexual interests to kids and animals, is comparable to being gay/bi/pan sexual. And to a 15-year old, it might make sense. The 20 year old interested in 15 year olds, is "just like me". And "it's just society that doesn't understand them. But due to being 15 years old, they don't quite get the difference between same sex relationships, and relationships between an adult and a 14 year old.

"I swear we don't over-sexualise everything"

I know it was a small rant part but the femboy community really has just taken the same route as the furry community which would be intresting to see, i mean ive been through it as a person who likes it for the origional message of just dressing how one wishes and wanting to be softer, but ofc thats been shoved aside for the thought process of 'all femboys are ultra-bottoms who need to by x-y-z and are all gay' its really sad that the message has been twisted to that but its jsut how it is really, while i still dress fem occasionally i dont dare talk about it on social sites because the negative culture attracts so many predators, even on explicitly sfw areas, but thats my rant over on that

I'm 14 years old and go to a very non-diversified school so we only have a couple furry's I was unfortunate enough to meet one my age, she sat with me at lunch and she would say some of the most sexually explicit and disturbing things I've ever head not only did she share disturbing notions in school,she also bit me on multiple occasions,told me about several mental disorders she had,she cut herself,and despite me telling her to stop being so dirty she continued

I’m genuinely happy that you talked about sexualization within the community. It’s constantly normalized with minors when it shouldn’t be. I remember a artist who **was a minor** do ahegao pfps for other minors. I had a whole argument with them but their argument was that their sonas were “of age” 🤦‍♀️

Could we take a moment to appreciate Jax's friend for risking a year trip to a mental hospital for the sake of this video?

man the part about the kid falling in love with someone they never even saw hit really close to home. I've been there. i remember when i was that age, i entered into relationships with people I've never seen or met in person. their kindness to me and honestly their characters/ avatars were what made me fall in love despite not knowing what they looked like. to me: their avatars was them and their kindness was their personality. i was picked on a lot so seeing someone be kind to me was honestly one of the biggest things for me. i wanted to hang on to that, i wanted that security that someone out there loved me, and that drove me to date these people that i never sew or knew. to this day i have no idea who i was talking to, were they a girl the same age as me? or some dude looking to groom kids. thankfully i never sent any pictures of myself. even now i find myself being attracted to people who are gentle and kind, but i know to only look for in person. also edit: i grew out of the RP shit fast. looking back at myself i cringe.

i knew about a lot of this for a long time, thank you for making such a comprehensive video about the issue of internet exposure. ive seen the things shown in this video 2nd and 1st hand when i was 15; ive come into contact with this exact indoctrination of kids my age over the accursed site, discord, where the furry community serves as a "safe haven," a wolf in sheeps' clothing. P.S. the art oftentimes depicts some sort of cutesy affection even when sfw, which seriously shows me that communication between the fandom is encompassed around some sort of odd fetish love-seeking.

I'm imagining how hard it must be to even think about saying "owo" and "only kissies no eaties". That's brave.

In fairness here's the problem with minors: Most teens have raging hormones, and as such have huge temptations for more "adult" content. 9 times out of 10, if someone is requesting NSFW art, the creator isn't even going to consider asking age as it's assumed only someone 18+ would contact them. Those two things combined, you are obviously going to have a plethora of NSFW accounts and personalities ran by teens that have way too much time on their hands and way too little care of repercussion.

Fellow FURRY here!! This vid is honestly 100% accurate in what it's like to be a young naive kid in the fandom, to be groomed by the "praise/support/friendship" a predator gives you. Its honesty really heartbreaking that I wasn't shocked by a single thing I saw in this video bc predators are just that common in the fandom. When I first joined the fandom I delt with these types of ppl all the time, I'd block them but there were always more trying to msg me or ask to be "friends". The anonymity of being some faceless made up character is often what brings predators to the fandom, they get away with this stuff by just making a new character and doing the same things again like a cycle. And while the fandom is good with outing ppl online its definitely no secret the fandom has a problem. It would be practically impossible to out every single zoo/predator bc there are just so many... The furry fandom can be an amazing place where you can make life long friends, but it can also just take one opened msg request to suddenly be a kid thrown into a situation like this vid. And stories like this are very very common in the fandom. I've been a kid in situations like this before and for a lack of better wording it's just a nightmare of manipulation.

You are the goat man, this video has stuck with me for about a year and I've returned to this video after I got more of an understanding about the horrors of twitter and it's sad it only got worse now. I don't want our future to normalize being a pdf, thanks for this video.

I'm 16 and in the fandom, I'm lucky to have never experience anything like the stuff in this video. I'm happy I saw this video when I did, because I was just about to get twitter, and now I'm not. And to anyone in the fandom who's gone through this, I hope you get help. Ether from your parents, or from someone else you trust.

Just want to throw in a quick thanks for talking about the pipeline with porn-- I'm currently 16, and yeah, I'm definitely getting close to getting stuck forever there. Genuinely, you might have just massively improved my life.

Moral of the story (based on my experiences growing up, unfortunately): Twitter, kik, and reddit are awful cesspools of pedophilia and parents need to teach their kids about internet safety, consent, and personal boundaries. (The latter two are much more important than you'd think, I'm unfortunately speaking from experience. If young me had actually learned about how healthy social relationships and consent worked, I wouldn't have been so vulnerable to groomers)

massive props to the guy controlling the messages, they have a concerning amount of knowledge on the furry community and did an excellent job extracting information and asking the right questions

edit: I didn't realize right away that you made another video on this topic. but I still leave my thoughts. it's safe to say that the skepticism people have about furries is totally legitimate. Too many bad apples, and yes, while "not all of them are bad", it's far too many for what should be considered acceptable for an online community. I really hope they can start taking action against their negative side more seriously because despite various claims they make, I don't think they are doing that. Either weed out pedophiles, etc. to make your community acceptable, or have an internet community with a poor reputation. I know which one I would choose. In doing so, they would make it more welcoming for newcomers in addition to the people who are already in it knowing they don't have to deal with as many bad influences. this is just my little opinion. No hate. I'm sure there's more online communities like this and I feel terrible for those who are innocent since they have to be negatively generalized.

Hearing some things in this really made me cringe, seriously. Being an ex furry I've experienced a huge amount of things like this that really are very traumatic now that I look back on them, especially the fact that I am a minor that had to endure such things like this. Some things even ended up with me getting sent to a mental hospital because of the predicaments I ended up in. If you'd like me to give my account of events with a few SS for an extra story I'd gladly like to put it out and have my voice heard Jax.

I'm 32 now, but I really got into being a furry around 15-16. I was lucky because my internet access was very limited and the most I used was Furcadia and some art browsing. Most of the folks I met were close to my age and no one tried to groom me or I was aware. It's shocking and scary to see what teens in the fandom are exposed to. Sickening, even. However, I'm glad you put this out. I run a meetup group for a section of my state and we have to be on the up and up on these type of people (I've already banned 2 within the past months because of such activities). If you're a teen and in the fandom, be skeptical of everyone who is older than you who is way too nice to you. They only want one thing.

this was hard to get through, it showed me just how f'd my situation was when I was 16. THANK YOU for bringing awareness to things like this.

as a furry that's been in the community from the age of 14 am 26 now this is why I've been distancing myself for years even as a young teen I was asked to draw nsfw by adults that knew I was not of age , and this was constant I was super new to the internet too and only joined as I wanted to cosplay as a pokemon , I try keep a eye out for the minors now and try my best to keep them safe but its hard , its getting out of hand ,normal adults now just say enjoy your own circle and ignore the rest of the community but I just cant , I cant let this stuff fly by and turn a blind eye

I’m a recovering hypersexual and I’ve definitely and want to help more people. One of my friends who’s only 12 is hypersexual. Has a literal stash of femboy prn but after I found it on his phone he deleted it and now is trying to better himself. I hope that many more people can find help. Don’t be afraid to ask friends or family for help on this stuff

Bro I'm just a furry cus i like drawing anthro characters n the concept and ideas around it are cool. why can't the rest of the community come from the same stand point😭 I wanna stop being associated with these disgusting people everytime I mention I'm a furry

I never understand the furries that take offense when its brought up this is stupid common in the fandom. The hate is earned but I guess the problem is these degenerates clearly have no shame so mocking them doesn't affect them. I don't interact with the furry community because its all nonsense

Whoever made those texts is a mastermind, never could of known it was fake if I looked at it myself.

For the 2 years I've been in the fandom, I heard how you talked about the pornography not being problematic, and honestly, it is very problematic. Every time I've met a furry who has been under the age of 16, they have always been addicted to the NSFW side of the furry fandom. It honestly disgusts me that this is such a big problem in the fandom; it's always the young ones that get easily addicted to these things. I honestly hope they solve this problem.

HOLY SHIT 1 HOUR VIDEO NOW I SEE WHY IT TOOK ALMOST A MONTH TO MAKE

Man... I used to be a furry. I got addicted to porn because everything was so hyper-sexualized. I got caught one day, people on reddit convinced me it was okay and normal, I was 12. I lost all of my friends because they viewed me as a degenerate, got bullied for years; I tried to do some fury art. It was found and looked through by my brother, I was bullied even more. ranted to reddit, they said everything was alright and normal. Fuck me man, that was my lowest low. Furries both brought me out of an awful rut and tossed me into a worse one. But this time with no friends and no family liking me.

I only recently became a furry (relatively speaking) and was well over 20 by the time I started even seeking anthro art, and I've never "been in the community," but I was once a horny teen online. I grew up on the Internet in the early 2000s. I got a laptop for something like my 12th birthday and stole my neighbor's unsecured Wi-Fi so I could watch Newgrounds animations, read about Kingdom Hearts, and post godawful poetry. It took me until I was almost 13, with Web 2.0 finally coming into its own, that I realized that I could access pornographic material online. Obviously I'm not going into detail, but back then, you really only had awful tube sites, places with unfunny adult animations, and the Adult section of Newgrounds. You just lied and said you were 18 or older and you were in. Frankly, I don't think consuming porn that young did more damage to me than it would have had I waited until I was 18. I don't think kids are so fragile and innocent that, like, we have to have people verify their ages with documentation just to let them look at, I dunno, Midna and Link without clothes on. I mean, Twitter didn't exist yet. Facebook was exclusive. MySpace and LiveJournal were cliquey. If you were just a shy kid online, you stuck to your tube sites. Nowadays everyone, in their always-online mentality, knows about several social media sites where they can (hell, are EXPECTED TO) talk to complete strangers. As an adult, I ran an anime-themed adult blog/horrible space for my own toxicity on Tumblr, someone without an age in their bio started talking to me, I asked their age, they said 18, we discussed mildly lewd stuff with our OCs--and they then told me they were a minor and we cut contact. I can't vet literally everyone who wants to talk to me online. But what gets me is that, like, for these kids? This is probably normal. It's like, how would it be different from flirting with someone at school? Isn't it NORMAL? What makes it so bad to talk like this to people your own age online? Aren't you supposed to go to adults when you have questions? It's hard to fully understand the mentality because, obviously, I grew up when "say nothing about yourself online ever" was the norm. Web 2.0--Facebook, RU-vid, Twitter, TikTok--they killed that. The boundaries are blurred. We form parasocial relationships and don't recognize them as being dangerous to us. So I have a lot of sympathy for the kids just... trying to live. Trying to love. Trying to deal with growing up. The adults, though... I think what shocks me about this video is less the ages of the adults but more how expected it was that their sexual impulses would be reciprocated. Not only that, but that a 15-year-old would understand the pretty niche stuff they wanted to engage in. I really do think your conclusion is accurate but doesn't go far enough: there's been a major turn in the furry fandom that has made it increasingly sexual and sexualized. I don't think that's inherently bad, but it definitely makes it way easier to step over people's boundaries, especially when they're just words on a screen. Honestly, like... it's a distressing lack of empathy and self-awareness. That last guy--if he was telling the truth and was getting groomed that young, like, man, no wonder he has anger and control issues. Like, fuck, dude. He was hurt too, without even realizing it, and he's hurting people he cares about and he's hurting strangers. He's hurting KIDS. Like, fuck him for that, it's unforgivable, but it sounds like he needs help, and I hope he gets it, even if it's just so that he'll stop abusing kids. That's what's so rough to me about stories like this. I try to believe in people. I try to believe that the world is a good place. I try to believe that bad people will get what's coming to them in the end. But what if those bad people were also victims? What if they also deserve their own justice? I just hope that by talking about it we can make the world a better place. Thank you for this video.

I know this is a year old, but I'm deeply disturbed due to this kind of behavior. I'm 18 currently, luckily I'm not into anything illegal. However I'm getting more stable as I'm finding safe areas. These people are awful.

The amount of work (AND suffering) put into the making of this video is simply deserving of my praise

All im gonna say is kids falling so easily in love with someone they never met is not just in the furry community. I can say with personal experience as I got married to someone in a game who I never bet before. Shit is really crazy

As a (not kidding I'm serious) 15 yr old furry, I try my hardest to avoid this side of the community to the best if my ability it's always there, it's basically impossible to avoid and stuff like this and it's the reason I don't have a Twitter account. For such a generally welcoming community it has a massive dark side.

when i was 12 i joined amino, then Instagram. I was a furry and had sooo many adults roleplay (sexually) with me. including kids my age, which I doubt they were the age they said they were. It really fucked me up and I felt so used but kept doing it because I wanted to feel loved. Most of my friends, the ones that were ACTUALLY my age, were abused in their house and overly sexualized. It is really sad. I get so nervous when I see younger minors on social media nowadays because of my past, especially in a problematic fandom.